Nothing is What it Seems
by booklover450
Summary: Rebecca Meyers is a middle class girl who moves into Tulsa. She has no idea what a greaser or a soc is. Upon arriving, she quickly befriends Ponyboy and the gang and also some socs. She's confused by difference between them and her feelings towards Pony doesn't help. She has it rough at home and tries to fit in with her friends but who is there to call a friend? Soc or greaser?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, this is a story that I'm just doing to relive all these emotions. It won't be updated as regularly as my other story , "The Outsiders Revealed." Please Read and Review and leave any suggestion. But no flames. All flames will be ignored and I shall remind ya'll that karma's a bitch. But positive critism is most definitely welcomed. How else am I supposed to learn? ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the outsiders. Sadly, S. E. Hinton does. **

He knew he was dead meat when he saw her walk in. If Ponyboy had known that this girl would completely change him, then he would've dropped out of school. Or maybe he'd skip English and science; the two classes he had with Rebecca. Unfortunately, Ponyboy wasn't gifted with the sight to see the future. But then again, Rebecca had become an important person in Pony's life, almost as important as his brothers. He knew though that he was extremely fortunate to have met her and become as close to her as they were.

X-X-X-X

It has been almost a year since Johnny and Dally's death. They had always been in the mind of a small gang in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Especially on the mind of young Ponyboy Curtis, who had been really close to Johnny and Dallas. Although he had gotten used to the fact that they were gone, there was some moments where he really truly felt their absence. Those moments were usually when the gang was together and somebody would be speaking but only to have the memory of their lost buddies suddenly strike them as quick as lightning and they would drift off into silence. Most of the time, the silence would be suffocating and rather uncomfortable. But somehow these silences were when Ponyboy missed them the most. It was as if the silence was a special key to his brain that allowed his most painful memories to come tumbling out from the hidden corner in his brain. He was usually saved by his older brothers from his nightmarish daydreams and he was grateful to have not one but two people he could trust the most.

Sitting there in English class, Pony tried as hard as he could from thinking about his stay in Windrixville but it was impossible for they were reading Gone with the Wind. Before, the only thing that would remind him of that awful week would be the blonde tips on his hair. Ponyboy liked to keep his hair long and decided he wouldn't risk cutting it just because of that blonde. Boy, would he ever regret it.

The late bell had rung and Pony's English teacher, Mr. Richard, instructed them to open their notebooks and answer the questions that were on the board. Grumbling, Ponyboy reached into his backpack to retrieve his notebook, but at the exact moment, the door suddenly flew open.

In walked a girl that was about Pony's age. Her dark, straight hair was slightly windswept, as if she had ran to get to class and her small, heart shaped face was flushed.

"I'm s-sorry that I'm late." She stammered.

Mr. Richard smiled at her. "I'll take it that you're the new student?"

She nodded her head. "Yes, my name is Rebecca Meyers."

"That's an unusual name for us folks down south. Where are you from?" Mr. Richard asked.

"New York." She said. She looked up and Pony saw that her eyes were an electric blue. There was determination set in them that made him immediately think of Darry, his oldest brother. "But my mother died of an illness that doctors couldn't identify and my father remarried. He decided that it was best if we moved and his job offered him a new position here and he jumped on it. He even made my brother change college." Rebecca continued.

Mr. Richard nodded his head. "New York. Sounds like a dream down here. Anyway, we're reading Gone with the Wind. Have you read it, Rebecca?"

She nodded her head. "I enjoyed it too."

Mr. Richard looked pleased. "Excellent! I'll just pair you up with Ponyboy here," He pointed at Pony. "He's read it too, so I think he can help you get coordinated while the rest of us read the next chapter."

Rebecca looked at Pony, curiosity clearly on her face. She strode over and sat in the seat next to him. Pony could feel her light stare on his face, no doubt wondering if he was someone to be feared. Sighing, Ponyboy turned his seat so he was facing her and politely brought his hand out for a handshake.

"Hi, my name's Ponyboy Curtis. Nice to meet you."

She didn't shake his hand. "Who thought of your name?" She asked bluntly.

Ponyboy looked taken back. He had thought only Dally said what was on his mind but now he suspected that all New Yorkers were like that. Rebecca though, looked at his astonished face and flushed embarrassingly.

"I'm sorry." She said hurriedly. "I was just curious because that's not a common name and-" But Ponyboy put his hand up to quiet her.

He smiled and said, "That's okay. I was just caught off guard. My father named me Ponyboy. I even got an older brother named Sodapop."

Rebecca grinned at that. "Is he fizzy like one?"

Pony smiled. "He sure is something. My oldest brother got it easy though; His name's Darrel but we call him Darry." Rebecca laughed. Gosh but she sure was pretty when she laughed, Ponyboy thought absentmindingly. Then he mentally smacked himself. You barely know her, he chided.

"So, why the name Sodapop, Ponyboy and Darry?" She asked, trying to keep the conversation flowing.

Ponyboy played along. "Darry was named after our father and Soda's horse crazy so maybe that's why my name's Ponyboy. I don't know about why Soda's name is Sodapop but it fits him well, ya dig?"

Rebecca looked amused. "Umm, I guess I 'dig'."

Ponyboy blushed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I should explain. If you dig something that means you understood it. Or if you and somebody else digged the same things, that means you both like them. Ya di- I mean you understand?" Ponyboy said sheepishly.

Rebecca grinned. "You southerners have the strangest dialects but I guess you guys make it up with your cute accents." She said jokingly as Ponyboy blushed.

"Accents?!" Pony demanded. "You're the one with the accent. You New Yorkers put a lot of stress on your t's."

Rebecca raised her eyebrows. "Sounds like the Big Apple."

Pony gave her a confused face and she quickly rephrased. "I meant New York."

Pony shook his head. "No, I haven't been there. A buddy of mine lived there for three years."

"Oh." She said. She didn't inquire about this buddy of Pony's because one look at his face and anybody could tell it was a touchy subject. "So, uh how do you get to this class?" She asked, hoping to change the subject.

Ponyboy glanced at her schedule. "Oh, you have math. I have Social Studies next and it's right next door to your math class. If you want, I can walk you there."

Rebecca smiled at him. "Thank you." She turned around in her seat and absentmindingly flipped through her copy of Gone with the Wind.

Ponyboy glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Pony suddenly realized how lonely and sad she must be. She had to uproot herself from a place she probably lived all her life in and settle down in a completely foreign one. Ponyboy tried to imagine moving away from the gang and living on the other side of the country where people act and talked differently. He couldn't even imagine it; he might as well live on a different planet!

"You must feel lonely." He blurted out.

Rebecca looked at him, surprised. "What?"

He blushed. Stupid! Ya should've kept ya trap shut, he thought angrily. "Nothing." He said to Rebecca

Rebecca opened her mouth to say something, probably to tell me to mind my own business, Pony thought but he was saved by the bell. He put everything back in his backpack and patiently waited for Rebecca.

**A/N: All right people, there ya go. If want a faster update, you guys should leave tons of reviews. *Whistles innocently* ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I got this done! I know it's kinda short but I was updating my other story, "The Outsiders Revealed". The 7th chapter is up! I hope you guys enjoy this. I know I'm having fun writing this! Thanks for those who reviewed it! It means a lot to me! Read and Review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton is th lucky gal that owns the 6 incredible guys. Not fair!**

Ponyboy waited patiently in the hall for Rebecca to come out of their English class.

"Oh lordy! Ain't it our little Ponyboy!?" Someone said behind him.

Ponyboy turned around and looked up at to see Two-Bit Mathews smiling at him. Steve Randle was with him, looking bored as usual.

"Whatcha doing here by your lonesome?" Steve asked.

Ponyboy nodded at the class where he had English. "Just waitin' for a girl." The minute Ponyboy said this, he regretted it. Two-Bit gave a shout so loud that everybody in the hallway looked at him. But he didn't care.

"Stevie, would ya look at that! Ponyboy picked up a girl! Soda was getting worked up for nothing." Two-Bit shouted.

Steve glared at him. "Not so close to my ear, ya dig? And it's prime time that Pony gets himself a girlfriend."

Ponyboy blushed and tried to look furious. "She ain't my girlfriend, ya dig? Rebecca's new to the school and I'm supposed to show her where her next class is going to be."

"Ahh, she has a name. Rebecca." Two-Bit said while ignoring everything else Ponyboy had said.

"Umm, Ponyboy?" A soft voice asked behind him.

Ponyboy whirled around to Rebecca behind him, shyly glancing at Steve and Two-Bit.

Oh god, Ponyboy thought, I hope she didn't hear our conversation. Ponyboy just blushed at the thought of that.

Two-Bit however, was unfazed. He didn't even hesitate to introduce himself. "My name's Two-Bit Mathews," Rebecca looked bewildered at this, "and this here is Steve. We're good buddies of Ponyboy." Two-Bit said.

Rebecca smiled shyly. "Uh, hi. My name is Rebecca."

Two-Bit winked at her. "Oh, we know."

One look at Rebecca's bewildered face and Ponyboy just wanted to crawl under the floor and just die. Two-Bit is soo dead, Ponyboy thought murderously.

"So uh, let's get you to your math class." Ponyboy said hurriedly to Rebecca. "'Bye Steve, 'bye Two-Bit."

"Oh, not so fast." Two-Bit said, matching Pony's pace as they walked toward their classes. "Stevie and I are going this way too, ain't we Steve?"

Steve smirked. "We sure are."

"Don't mind them." Ponyboy whispered to Rebecca. "They just like to bug me."

She smiled in earnest. "I don't mind. But umm, is Two-Bit his real name?" She nodded her head in Two-Bit's general direction.

Pony grinned. "Nah, his real name is Keith but I didn't tell you that." He winked.

Steve and Two-Bit looked surprised. Pony had always been a quiet kid, especially since Johnny's death. Who was this chick and how did she get their buddy to talk so freely?

"Soda's gonna get a heart attack when he hears this." Steve said while looking amused.

"You don't say." Two-Bit replied.

Steve suddenly frowned. "She don't look like a greaser to me."

Two-Bit shrugged. "Ask her, Stevie."

When Steve shook his head, Two-Bit shrugged. "I'll ask her then."

Before Steve could even stop him, Two-Bit had already said, "Hey Rebecca! You a soc or a greaser?"

Pony and Rebecca had arrived at their classes and they turned around when Two-Bit had shouted this question. Rebecca looked confused and Pony groaned. Leave it to good 'ole Two-Bit to think of that, he thought.

"Excuse me?" She asked politely but she was still confused.

Two-Bit repeated what he said but slower.

Rebecca looked flustered. "Umm, I never heard of a soc or greaser."

Two-Bit looked surprised. Steve hurried over to them and then smacked Two-Bit him on his head.

"You idiot, why would she know what a soc or greaser is? She's new here!" Steve growled.

Two-Bit looked even more surprised. "There isn't socs or greasers from where she used to live?"

Steve gave an exasperated sigh. "The world ain't like Tulsa, Two-Bit."

Two-Bit pretended to look confused. "It ain't?!"

Rolling his eyes, Steve dragged Two-Bit away. "See ya'll later!"

Throughout the whole conversation, Ponyboy had wanted to swipe Two-Bit's switch blade and kill him with it. Why didn't Two-Bit use his head? And the gang complains that he was absentminded, he thought grimly.

Rebecca turned towards Pony. "Should I know what a greaser or a soc is?"

Pony sighed. "You'll find out soon enough."

Rebecca hesitated. "Is it a good thing?"

Ponyboy looked thoughtful. "Depends on how you look at things."

"I don't get it." Rebecca said while feeling frustrated.

Ponyboy just smiled. "Don't worry about it." Then he nodded his head towards Rebecca's classroom. "Well, good luck in math, you're gonna need it." He winked at her and for some reason, it had made her blush. She suddenly had a sudden urge to say something witty.

"Yeah, good luck in uh, your social studies class." She stammered. Then, she wished she hadn't said anything at all. She hadn't had social studies yet!

He probably thought she was an idiot, she thought miserably. But his face bore no look of disgust. His greenish grayish eyes were as friendly as ever and he had the sweetest smile on.

"Thanks." He said and he disappeared into his classroom.

Rebecca gripped the doorknob to her classroom and sighed. Get a hold of yourself, she chided. He's just one boy. She was about to walk into the classroom when somebody called out to her.

**A/N: All right, there ya go. I just need to say, I am writing this for my own fun. If you like it then cool, please leave a review! If you don't like it then cool. Go read something that you do like. **

**Anyway, if you want a fast update, then leave tons of reviews! ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry it took soo long to get this up! I had to work on my other story, I'm in the hospital and I'm trying to catch up with all the missed work from school! So this really might not be as good as I thought... Anyway, thank you guys for all the reviews! They mean a lot to me!**

**BTW, the whole exchange with Lucy and Rebecca really did happen to me in camp. I thought I might add in here! ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do no own The Outsiders although I wish I did.**

Rebecca whirled around as she heard somebody call out to her. A girl her age approached her. She had long wavy brown hair that flowed freely around her shoulders and as she came closer, Rebecca noticed that she had sea green eyes. She was very beautiful and from the way she held herself Rebecca could tell that she knew that too.

"Hiya!" She said cheerfully. "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you're the new girl."

Rebecca was taken aback. Honestly, these southerners were just too welcoming, she thought.

"How did you know?" She asked.

The girl smiled. "I have connections." Then she noticed Rebecca standing in front of the classroom.

"Ooh, you have Ms. Mazz right now? That's just perfect! The ungrateful hag will kill me if I was late to her class again! I'll just say that I was helping you out! You don't mind, do you?" The girl had said in one breath. Rebecca didn't even have time to register what she said. She just nodded so she can just rid of this girl.

The girl was going towards the classroom door when she suddenly stopped. "Where are my manners?" She exclaimed. Then she extended her hand for a handshake. "My name's Lucy Simons. What's yours?"

And what's up with the handshaking, Rebecca thought as she extended her own hand to give handshake. Southerners really did love a good handshake.

"My name's Rebecca Meyers." She replied.

She squealed and Rebecca thought her ear drums had burst. "That's such a pretty name! Come on, I want to get out of this school alive." Then she walked towards the door and opened it for Rebecca. Rebecca took a deep breath, glanced at the closed doors of Ponyboy's classroom and walked in.

Ms. Mazz looked up to see the two girls walk in. "Lucy, you are late again." She said tiredly.

Lucy blinked at her innocently. "I was just helping Rebecca here get to class. She's new." She added brightly.

The teacher looked past Lucy and noticed the other girl. She nodded her head at her. "Welcome Rebecca. I hope you enjoy Tulsa as we do."

Rebecca gave a forced smile. "Thank you."

Ms. Mazz walked to her desk where a pile of tests and quizzes were just waiting to be graded. She picked up a copy of the worksheet that the class would be working on and handed it to Rebecca.

Rebecca's eye widened as she scanned through all the problems. Rebecca knew that she wasn't good at math; she was more of a language arts person. But at least she got some B's and maybe once in a blue moon she'd get an A- in math. But the problems on the worksheet didn't even resemble the math problems back at home. Rebecca's head spun at the sight of all the numbers.

"Umm, this is Algebra 2 right?" She asked.

Ms. Mazz gave her a questioning stare while the kids in the class snorted. Rebecca blushed; she hated having the spotlight on her. Especially when she was feeling humiliated. "Yes, it is. Why? Don't you recognize any of the problems?"

Rebecca's cheek flamed as she slowly shook her head. She hated feeling like she was behind the class but now she guessed she was light years behind them. She felt a sudden longing for her old classroom and teachers. At least there she knew her place and what to do. I just want to be anywhere but here, she thought miserably.

Ms. Mazz looked at her for a while. "What chapter were you on back from where you were before?" She asked.

Rebecca strained to remember. "Oh, we were on chapter 9." She replied.

Ms. Mazz's eyes slightly widen. "Only?!" She asked. "Well, no wonder you don't recognize this! We're on chapter 12 and working on logarithms."

Rebecca blinked at her. She might as well have been speaking a different language, which Rebecca highly suspected. "Loga-what?" She asked.

Ms. Mazz sighed. "Why don't you take a seat and relax for a minute? I'll see what I can do with you. Lucy, take out your homework and take a worksheet and complete all the questions. Why don't you show Rebecca where she can sit?"

Lucy looked at the teacher sweetly. "Of course! Come on, Rebecca." She took Rebecca to a seat in the back of the room. Lucy took a seat tight next to her.

"So, how do you like Tulsa?" Lucy asked as she tried to complete the worksheet.

"Umm, it's fine." Rebecca lied. In truth, Rebecca hated Tulsa. It was so hot and humid; too things Rebecca was beginning to realize that were _not_ good for her hair. She could already feel the ends of her hair curling up and she knew no amount of combing will get it to go back to being straight.

Great, she thought tiredly. Just what I need. A bad hair day on the first day.

"So, where are you from?" Lucy asked, interrupting Rebecca's self- pitying thoughts.

"Oh, umm New York." She mumbled.

Lucy looked at her excitedly. "Like the New York City? God, you're so lucky! I've always wanted to shop there!"

It was then that Rebecca realized what kind of a person Lucy Simons was. She was those rich, preppy girls that always seemed to be dating the quarterback. Rebecca bet that was a cheerleader or at least hanged out with them.

"Yeah, NYC was one of a kind." Rebecca said wistfully.

Lucy gave her a look of pity. "Total bummer that you had to move."

Luckily, Ms. Mazz had walked over to them, saving Rebecca from answering Lucy.

"Rebecca, I made this copy of some things from chapter nine and a little bit of ten for you to practice right now." She said. Then she sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair. "I can't teach you while teaching the class a different lesson so I'm going to have to ask you to stay after school to catch up with the rest." Then her face softened as she looked at Rebecca's baffled expression. "I was hoping to start next week. That way you're hopefully adjusted."

Rebecca nodded her head and took the packet from Ms. Mazz. "Thank you." She said.

Ms. Mazz smiled at her before turning her attention toward a boy with heavily greased hair.

"I expect you to pick up every single wad off the floor." She said sternly.

The boy looked up at her innocently. "Why of course, Ms. Mazz! I may be a greaser but I still value the classroom rules!"

Ms. Mazz narrowed her eyes at him. "Just clean it up!" She snapped.

But Rebecca was stuck on what the boy had said. Greaser. There was that term again, she thought. What was it that boy had asked her? Oh yeah, she thought. He had asked her if she was a greaser or a soc.

As she scanned the room, she had a vague idea which one was which. The boy that had talked back to Ms. Mazz was hanging out with a group of other boys dressed like him. Most of them had a leather jacket, torn up jeans and converses. These, Rebecca thought, were the oh-so called greasers. But on the other side, where Rebecca and Lucy were sitting, boys were wearing Madras shirt and some even were wearing sweater set. Never in Rebecca's life had she seen so much class division. Sure, they were some in her old school but not much. It was a private school and the groups were just a bunch of people with different friends.

The bell ringing interrupted Rebecca's train of thoughts. Rebecca quickly gathered her stuff and stuffed them into her backpack. She shouldered her backpack and walked out of the classroom.

"Have a good day, Ms. Meyers." Ms. Mazz smiled at her.

Rebecca smiled at her. "Thank you." Rebecca thought she was a pretty decent teacher. She had no idea why Lucy thinks of her as an 'ungrateful hag.'

Sighing, Rebecca took out her schedule and checked what her next class was.

"Studio in painting." Rebecca mumbled. She checked what class number it was…. Only to find it say "Art Studio'.

"How helpful." Rebecca muttered sarcastically. She sighed and resolved that she'll just walk around until she could find the art studio.

"Rebecca!" Somebody called out. Rebecca turned around to see Lucy's smiling face.

"What do you have next?" She asked kindly.

"Uh, studio in painting." Rebecca answered.

Lucy's eye light up. "So do I! I'll walk you there! Consider it as a thank you." She winked. With that, she took Rebecca's arm and turned her in the opposite direction they were going and walked to their art class, Lucy chatting the whole way there.

**A/N: Well, there you go! I hope you like it! Review please! **

**Anyway, I was wondering if S. E. Hinton actually goes on this website and reads some fanfics... if you are out there Mrs. Hinton, I hope I did a good job! ;)**

**Wanna faster update? Then leave tons of reviews!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay, I finally got this up! My friends said that I should put a quote in the beginning of every chapter... so I did. I had tons of fun looking for them though! Hope you guys enjoy this! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders. I mean, do I seem like S.E. Hinton to you? :) ;) **

"_And the danger is that in this move toward new horizons and far directions, that I may lose what I have now, and not find anything except loneliness." _

― _Sylvia Plath_

Upon arriving at the art studio, Lucy took Rebecca to a table at the front of the classroom and sat her down.

"Okay, somethings you need to know about Ms. Collins." Lucy started, not even giving Rebecca time to settle down. "She's pretty and kinda young. She's one of the coolest teachers ever in this forsaken high school. She actually makes art pretty cool and allows individualism."

Rebecca nodded her head although in the inside, she was just barely keeping up with her. "That's cool. What are you guys doing now?"

Lucy made a face. "Drawing faces. I'm not really good at it. Are you?"

Rebecca shrugged although she was finally happy that they were actually gonna do something she was good in. "I'm decent enough."

"Wanna be my partner? My best friend Dakota was supposed to be helping me but she's out with the flu. You can draw me and I can draw you." Lucy suggested.

Rebecca smiled at her. She was glad that she didn't have to go through the awkward phase where she had to look for a partner in a room filled with people she didn't know. She could already feel Lucy growing on to her, which was surprising. Her only two best friends back home, Phoebe and Chloe were nothing like Lucy. They were crazy and fun, and spent most of their time making fun at people like Lucy. They were sure gonna flip when she told them this, she thought nostalgically.

"Who is this?" A girl with curly brown hair and brown eyes asked Lucy as she took a sit next her.

Lucy brightened. "This is Rebecca! She moved here from New York."

The girl nodded her head and smiled at her. "Welcome to Tulsa! You'll find out nothing much happens here as they might do back up north. I'm Gabby!" She said.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Gabby isn't known for being subtle. You may have to excuse her sometimes."

Rebecca laughed. "I don't mind." And she really didn't. Although Gabby dressed just like the way Lucy did, the same skirt style and blouse, Rebecca was immediately reminded of her old friends, who seemed to have a bad habit of speaking their minds.

The minute the late bell had rung, Rebecca saw a short breath Ponyboy and another boy stumble into the classroom. Ponyboy's reddish hair was in disarray and the other boy's left cheek was starting to purple, probably a bruise forming, Rebecca thought.

"Curly, next time don't time don't try to pick a fight with a soc in the middle of a hallway; leave it for rumbles." Ponyboy said tiredly. He turned his head and realized Rebecca was there. He gave her a smile, which she returned and hastily turned away, and he sat in the table in the back of the classroom.

"Stupid, no good greaser." Gabby mumbled as she shot a glare at the boy named Curly.

"What's a greaser?" Rebecca asked, hoping to get a straight answer.

Lucy and Gabby looked at each other in surprised. "Gee, I really don't know how to explain it." Lucy said helplessly.

"I got it." Said Gabby. She turned towards Rebecca and answered, "greasers are like hoods. They've got no money, always seem to be getting high or in jail and are really up to no good. They live in the east side of town. We're socs. We've got the money and we hate the greasers. We live on the west side of town."

Lucy applauded her softly. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

Rebecca understood now what they were talking about but she still had one more question. "What about the people in the middle?" She asked.

Gabby shrugged. "What about them? They're just there. They're not socs or greasers. Nothing much to say about the middle class."

"Where do they live?" Rebecca asked curiously.

Gabby shrugged. "Around middle of town, closer to the west than east. Mulberry street is where some of 'em live."

"I live on Mulberry Street." Rebecca said more to herself but Lucy took it as an invitation to answer.

"Then you're middle class." She smiled at her. "Better than being a greaser."

Rebecca digested all of this. Living in New York helped her understand what Gabby and Lucy were saying but she felt that Gabby's explanation was too one-sided. After all, she did meet Ponyboy and he didn't seem to fit the description that they gave her although he was labeled as a 'greaser'. He seemed like a decent guy, she thought. Not like one of those guys back home that was involved in gangs or such. Nothing is what it seems, she mused. She bet that if she went up to the guy named Curly and asked him to describe 'socs, he would say a load of trash too. Looks like I'm on my own for this one, she concluded.

"Well, you know that greaser from DX?" Gabby asked Lucy and interrupting Rebecca's train of thoughts. "That one is quite a catch."

Lucy had a dreamy expression on her face. "His name's Sodapop, right? He sure is a doll. Shame that he's a greaser."

Rebecca perked up at the name of Pony's older brother. "Isn't that his little brother sitting in the back?" She nodded her head in Pony's general direction.

Lucy and Gabby made a face. "You mean Ponyboy? He's okay lookin' but he got his own issues." Lucy said.

"What issues? He seemed okay enough." Rebecca asked.

Gabby and Lucy looked at each other. "Well, last year-" Lucy started but the teacher, a petite with straight blonde hair in a bun and green eyes, walked in and clapped her hands to get the students attention.

"Before we get started on today's lesson, I'd like to bring your attention to the fact that we were lucky to acquire a new student today." The teacher turned towards Rebecca, a huge smile on her face.

"Sweetheart, what's your name?" She asked nicely.

Rebecca's face started to turn red as she realized that everybody's were trained on her. "Rebecca Meyers." She said shyly.

The teacher continued to smile at her. "That's a lovely name! I am Ms. Collins. Do you have any particular nicknames that you would like to be called, honey?" She added brightly.

Rebecca was taken aback. No one had ever bothered to ask her that. Chloe and Phoebe had called her Becky or Beck sometimes and her brother and father would sometimes call her Re, but those nicknames had come naturally. Nobody asked her if she wanted to be called anything in particular but she respected Ms. Collins for asking.

Rebecca shook her head. "No, there's nothing I would like to be called." She smiled.

Ms. Collins nodded her head and turned back to face the class. "Okay, so ya'll know what to do. We're drawing either your own face or your partners face and then later we'll paint them on canvasses. So go to the back, grab a pencil, paper, or mirror if you're doing yourself and start drawing!"

Rebecca and the rest of the class got up from their seats and walked to the back of the class.

"So, who are you working with, Gab?" Lucy asked absentmindingly while she took her long wavy hair and twisted into a bun with a pencil.

Gabby shrugged. "I'll do myself. No one knows me better than myself." She laughed. Lucy rolled her eyes and got a paper and pencil and was about to walk back to her seat when Ms. Collins called out to her.

"Ms. Simons, we use the pencil for drawing, not holding our hair up." She said while looking amused.

Lucy looked up at her sheepishly. "Sorry, Ms. Collins." She was about to take her hair down when Ms. Collins stopped her.

"You know what; keep your hair like that. You look beautiful like that and one day you're gonna have to teach me how you did that." She winked.

Lucy blushed but looked proud. "Thank you, Ms. Collins!" She gushed and she turned around to beam at Rebecca.

"I told you she was an amazing teacher!" She said as she walked past her to get back to their seats. As Gabby passed by, she twirled her finger near her head and pointed at Lucy, as if to say that she was crazy. Rebecca giggled and quickly grabbed a piece of paper and pencil. When she turned around however, she nearly collided into somebody.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She said and she looked up to see Ponyboy smiling down at her.

"It's okay." He said. "So, how did you like math class? I bet you hated Ms. Mazz." He said as he collected his supplies.

"Actually, I like her. She's a decent teacher. It's just the subject itself that's bothering me." She replied.

Ponyboy looked at her with an incredulous expression on his face. "You liked her?! I think you're the only student who said that. And besides, math is easy."

"Well, for you maybe but back home we were on chapter nine and you guys are on chapter 12 so I have no clue as to what's going on." She said miserably.

Ponyboy smiled at her. "You'll catch up. It's easy, I promise."

Rebecca snorted. "Even back home I was struggling and I knew what was going on then. I doubt it would be any different here."

Ponyboy looked thoughtful. "Just give it a chance. It might just work out."

Rebecca looked at him, surprised. Boy, he obviously never saw me around numbers, she thought. She was about to say something to him but Lucy called out to her.

"Rebecca, come on! It's gonna take me all period to draw you!" She shouted.

Pony glanced at her and then at Lucy, who was looking at them with her eyebrows raised. "You're friends with Lucy Simons?" He asked.

She shrugged and looked at him curiously. "Not really. But she's been really nice to me since I met her."

Ponyboy made a face. In his opinion, Lucy Simons was not the person people should befriend. "She's not my favorite person." He admitted to Rebecca.

Rebecca gave him a knowing look and shrugged. "That's cool. I guess I'll see around." She said and she walked back towards her table. She put her supplies down and looked up to see Lucy and Gabby looking at her strangely.

"What?" She asked innocently.

"What were you and Curtis talking about?" Gabby asked.

Rebecca blinked at her. "You really do get to the point, don't you?"

"I sure do." She said unfazed. "So what did you guys say?"

Rebecca shrugged. "I bumped into him and apologized to him."

Lucy looked unconvinced. "For that long?" She asked while lifting her eyebrows.

"Lucy, your eyes may not come out right 'cause I can't draw eyes." Rebecca said while turning a bright red.

Lucy laughed and gave Rebecca a knowing look. "Sure thing, Rebecca." She played along. "I can't draw humans so what I draw might not even look like you."

Gabby shook her head although she was smiling along. "Idiots." She murmured. Rebecca felt happy knowing that Gabby had chosen to include her, even though it was kinda of an insult. Maybe I could thrive in this city after all, she thought absentmindingly as she began to draw Lucy's face.

The classroom became a lot more quitter after everybody started drawing. There was the occasional laughter and people telling their partner to tilt their head a certain way or look up. Rebecca felt a sharp pang of homesickness. Back in New York, the art room was never silent. The students may not be talking but there was always the honking of cars or the chatter of people in the distance. But here, in Tulsa, the silence was so tangible that Rebecca could practically feel it surrounding her, suffocating her until the point where she had to look up and take a deep breath.

"Are you okay?" Ms. Collins asked behind her. Rebecca turned around and nodded and gave her a shaky smile. Ms. Collins smiled down at her sadly.

"It's homesickness, isn't it?" She asked knowingly and Rebecca gave her a sheepish smile and nodded again.

"Where are you from?" The teacher asked and Rebecca told her.

"Oh, I'm guessing you used to live in the city?" Ms. Collins guessed and Rebecca looked at her with surprise written all over her face and nodded her head.

Ms. Collins gave her a sympathetic look. "I know how you feel. I used to leave in Chicago but when moved here, I became extremely homesick. It became so severe, that I had to stay home in bed all day." She gave her a sad smile. "The first thing I noticed when I arrived here was that it was so quiet. Too quiet for my liking. There's just something peaceful about the background noise of a city, don't you agree?"

Rebecca felt a rush of gratitude towards Ms. Collins. She was glad that there was somebody in this town that she could relate to because she knew if went around telling people about this, they would just think she was crazy. Rebecca felt something heavy being lifted from her heart and she realized that it was the feeling of loneliness. She had never felt so lonely in her entire life to know what it actually felt like but know that she knew, she wished she'd never feel it again.

"Thank you." She whispered to the teacher and Ms. Collins smiled at her.

"You're welcome, sweetheart." She said kindly and turned towards the rest of the class. "Okay, kiddos, that's it for today! Put your drawing by windowsill and let's compare them!"

Rebecca looked nervously at her picture of Lucy. Everything looked like the way it should be expect for the eyes. They had this unrealistic quality to them and Rebecca could feel frustration building inside of her. Why couldn't she get it? Why is it the eyes that always seemed to trip her up?

"Curly, I look like a horse." She heard Ponyboy say to the boy he was working with.

"Well, that should make sense." She heard the boy reply. "You're name's Ponyboy after all."

She saw Ponyboy roll his eyes at him and she stifled a laugh herself.

"So, how did it come out?" Lucy asked her about her portrait. Rebecca turned to face her and smiled.

"Okay, but I'm still having trouble with the eyes." She admitted.

Lucy snorted. "That's better than what I have. This drawing doesn't even look like you!" She exclaimed.

Rebecca laughed and hanged her drawing right next to Lucy's and Gabby's. Lucy took one look at the drawing and squealed with delight. Gabby placed her hands over her ears and looked at Lucy tiredly.

"Next time warn us before you go and blow our eardrums off." Gabby grumbled.

Lucy ignored her and turned towards Rebecca with a huge grin on her face. "This looks exactly like me! You're so talented!" She gushed.

Rebecca turned a fierce shade of red. "No, I got your eyes all wrong and they're the most important part of your face." She stammered.

"Who cares? I most certainly don't." Lucy said.

Gabby rolled her eyes. "Insane, that's what you are."

Rebecca looked at the picture that was supposed to be her. She did a double take when she glanced at it. Lucy had drawn a girl, but the girl looked nothing like Rebecca.

"Umm, Lucy?" Rebecca asked while trying to hold back a laugh.

Lucy turned towards her and realized that she was looking at her drawing. Lucy waved her hand and said, "I know it looks nothing like you. It's probably some girl who lives half way across the world."

Gabby and Rebecca laughed. "You can draw." Rebecca said.

"But not individuals!" She wailed.

Ms. Collins had walked over to them and examined their art work.

"Ladies, these are really good." She was impressed. "Would you like me to criticize or are you good?" She asked politely.

Rebecca could feel her respect for Ms. Collins growing by the second. She respected that Ms. Collins had ask them if they wanted criticism instead of just giving them her opinion.

They nodded and Ms. Collins smiled. "Okay, so Gabby. This self-portrait but you're putting too much effort on your nose. Just draw a simple outline and shade and the rest will speak for itself."

She turned towards Lucy's painting and smiled. "You're a talented young lady, Lucinda," Lucy winced at the mention of her full name. "But you need to recognize individualism. See how Rebecca's eyes are more round than almond shape? And notice how there's a little freckle above her upper lip? Draw those things to bring Rebecca more into your drawing."

She finally turned towards Rebecca portrait. "Rebecca, you too have a talent in art but you need to bring more life to your drawing. Your Lucy looks like a statue. She's smiling but it's not showing in her eyes. Crinkle the edges around her eyes to show laughter in them."

The girls nodded their heads. "Thank you, Ms. Collins." Gabby said sweetly.

Ms. Collins grinned at them. "Anytime sweethearts." And she walked towards other students.

"She is soo cool." Lucy exclaimed.

"Almost as cool as Mr. M." Gabby said dreamily.

Lucy immediately launched into a conversation with Gabby about some teacher Rebecca had no idea about. Rebecca wandered off to see the other student's drawing but stopped when she came to Pony's. His picture of the boy named Curly was perfect. He had gotten everything right, even the purple bruise that had begun to appear on the boy's face.

"You like?" Somebody asked behind her. Without even turning Rebecca knew that it was Ponyboy.

"It's amazing!" She exclaimed.

Ponyboy blushed. "Thanks. I saw your drawing too and it was really good."

Rebecca snorted. "Hardly. But this portrait is amazing!" She said sadly. The last time she saw anybody draw this good was her mother but her mother had been gone for a year now.

Ponyboy looked at her curiously but the bell rang and she hurried over to grab her stuff and go.

"Hey, Rebecca! Wait up!" Lucy called out to her. "We have lunch now. I can't wait to introduce you to our other friends!" She said happily and Gabby nodded her head in agreement.

Rebecca gave them an apologetic look. "I'm sorry guys but my older brother, James, promised to pick me up during lunch and drive me around."

Lucy pouted. "That's okay. How about tomorrow?"

Rebecca nodded her head and smiled. "Tomorrow sounds perfect."

Lucy's face brightened. "Okay, that's cool. What class do you have after?" She asked.

Rebecca glanced at her schedule. "Writers Workshop."

Lucy frowned. "We have Social Studies." They came to the front entrance of the school and Lucy and Gabby turned towards her.

"It was nice meeting you." Lucy said.

Rebecca smiled. "You too."

"See you in few!" Gabby cried out as she and Lucy headed towards the cafeteria.

Rebecca smiled and turned towards the front door. The one thing she liked about this high school was that the students were allowed to eat lunch off campus, as long as they came back on time. When James had heard this, he promised her that they'd drive around for a while during her lunch period on the first day. Rebecca smiled at her brother's eagerness before and stepped outside to wait for him.

**A/N: There you go! If you have a suggestion or a nice comment, please review! Thank you for all the reviews before! Keep them up!**

**More reviews= faster updates! ;) **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I got this done before spring break for you guys! Thank you so much for the review guys! Keep them coming!**

**Oh, and Writer Workshop is a class they have in my school so I thought I might add it here. It's just a writing class. You learn how to write different poetry, business letter, persuasive essays, reaserch papers, short stories, the works. You have English class in the same semester as well. Truth be told, Writer Workshop is a pain in the butt and quite frankly a waste of time. But I added it to this story! **

**Disclaimer: As ya'll know I do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does and quite frankly, I think that's better than claiming your president. Just sayin'!**

"_Boyfri[end], girlfri[end], fri[ends], they all end with end. But not fam[ily]. It ends with 'I love you.'" –Author Unknown (got it off tumblr!)_

Rebecca didn't have to wait that long. Almost the minute she walked out of the school did James pull up in their father's SUV.

"Hey, Re." He grinned at her through the rolled down window. Rolling her eyes, Rebecca walked over to passenger side and climbed in.

"Anywhere in particular you want to go?" James asked her as he drove away from the school.

"Back to New York." Rebecca grumbled.

James glanced at his little sister and reached over to ruffle her hair. "Don't be like that kiddo. Take this as an opportunity to start over again."

Rebecca snorted. "Don't pull that shit with me, James. Don't pretend that you're not mad at dad for having to uproot you from Columbia University to some shitty state university."

James tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "Becky, what's wrong?" He asked even though he knew what was wrong. He did resent his father a bit for having to make them move from the place they loved the best and just when they were getting used to the fact that their mother was gone. On top of that, his father chose to remarry to Linda. Their marriage was a little too close to their mother's death date, in James opinion.

Rebecca brought her knees close to her chest and rested her head on it. "I hate it here."

James looked at her and he could feel his heart break a little. Rebecca was the spitting image of their mom. She even acted her like her too, sometimes. James didn't think he could ever look at his little sister without being automatically reminded of their mother.

He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "Jeez, Becky. I don't know what to tell you. I can't make you like this place but you're gonna live here for a while so you might as well make the best of it."

She sighed. "I'm gonna miss those summer days in Central Park with Chloe and Phoebe."

"Shoot, maybe you'll make better memories here. You don't know until you start living." James replied.

Rebecca stared at him. "What were you studying to be again?" She asked.

James looked at her confusingly. "Architectural engineer. Why do you ask?"

Rebecca snorted. "Fuck that, you should be a philosopher."

James reached over and gently smacked her knee. "Shut up." He grunted but a smile was tugging at the corners of his lips.

She grinned up at him. But her eyes widened as she looked out the window passed her brother's shoulder. "Wow, those houses are beautiful."

James looked at the tall, amazing houses his sister was looking at. "Watch this." He said and he started going towards the opposite side of town. Soon enough, they had reached the east side of town.

Rebecca gasped as she looked at what was the bipolar opposite of the west side of town. The houses weren't tall and majestic; they were small and kinda rundown looking.

"Are we even in the same town?" Rebecca asked, her voice filled with awe.

James nodded. "Yup. That exactly how I felt. How could you go from a totally rich neighborhood to something that resembles poverty? Just doesn't make any sense."

"Tell me about it. So this must be where the greasers live." Rebecca mumbled as she watched two boys who were obviously skipping school drink beer.

"Dad's gonna kill me if he finds out that we were in this side of the neighborhood." James mumbled. Then he turned his attention to his little sister. "Greaser?" He asked. "Are you talking about people who grease cars?"

Rebecca laughed at her brother's ignorance. "No, Jamie. Greaser is the slang term for people who live on the east side." She said.

He glanced at her. "Look here, Becky. I really don't want to stereotype or anything but I heard that the people living on the east side are, well, kinda wild and tough. I heard something about how last year there were some kinds around your age kill a guy and some other stuff happened and two other kids died."

"And?" Rebecca asked, trying to figure where James was trying to tell her. In her opinion, James shouldn't be that surprised. Things like this happened in Manhattan enough time for Rebecca to be used to the fact.

"And," James continued. "I'm not a big fan if you befriend any people here."

Rebecca rolled her eyes and noticed that James had stopped in front of a grocery store. "Why are we stopping here?" She asked.

"I wanted to grab something to drink. You want anything?" He asked.

"A coke would be fine. But James, these things happened in New York too so there really isn't any reason for you to worry." She said.

James sighed. "Yeah, I know but you went to a private school then so I at least knew you were with decent people." He gave her a painful smile and leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I'm just protecting my little sister, anything wrong with that?"

Rebecca grinned. "I can protect myself, Jamie. I'm almost 16."

"16 or 600, you'll always be my baby sister." James said as he climbed out of the car and into the store. Rebecca smiled and leaned back. At least I have Jamie by my side, she thought happily and closed her eyes to daydream.

X-X-X-X

Rebecca might not have noticed him but Ponyboy sure as hell noticed her. He watched as a boy around Darry's age climb out of the car and say something to Rebecca before going into the store. This must her brother, he thought. He could tell even from across the parking lot that both siblings had the same shade of navy/electric blue eyes. But that was all they had in common. The brother was tall and lean, with light brown hair that was at a decent length. Ponyboy watched all of this from sitting on the hood of Steve's car. He waited impatiently for Two-Bit and Steve to get out of the store.

Ponyboy looked through the store's window and sighed when he saw that Two-Bit was flirting with the blonde haired cashier. This is going to take a while, he thought wearily as he leaned back and watched the clouds go by.

Some minutes had gone by before he heard Steve call out to him. "Hey, Pony! We're gonna stop by the DX for a second 'cause I need to give Soda something."

Ponyboy turned and looked at him. "That's cool. Where's Two-Bit?"

"Right here, ya'll can keep your pants on, no need to worry." He said as he jogged up to them.

"What took you so long?" Ponyboy asked as he slid off of Steve's car.

Two-Bit winked at him. "Hey, ain't that your girl right over across the parking lot?" Two-Bit asked.

Without even turning, Ponyboy knew that he was talking about Rebecca. "She ain't my girl." He said hotly. "And besides, I barely know her."

Two-Bit, of course, didn't listen to him. "Why don't we go over and say hi?" That would be a nice thing to do, right Stevie?"

Steve smirked. "I would love to but we need to get to the DX and make it back in time for school."

Two-Bit pouted. "You guys are no fun!" He cried but he got into Steve's car. Rolling their eyes, Ponyboy and Steve hopped in and Steve quickly drove away.

X-X-X-X

The minute they arrived at the DX, Ponyboy could already see Soda through the window of the store. He could already feel a smile on his face. Just the sight of his brothers could make him happy.

He jumped out of the car before Steve could turn off the ignition and raced to the store that was part of the gasoline station.

"Hey, Soda." He grinned.

Soda looked up, surprised. "Pony! It's nice seeing you and all but please tell me you ain't skipping. Darry would kill you if you skipped school."

Ponyboy smiled and shook his head. "Nah, it's lunch time."

Soda looked relieved. "Thank god. Whatcha doin' here anyway?"

"I needed to give you something." Steve said from behind Pony.

Soda's face brightened. "Stevie! Ain't it great to see you!"

"Yeah, yeah." Steve smiled and he went behind the counter and handed Soda something.

"Soda, you'll never believe what happened today." Two-Bit said as he entered the store.

Soda sipped his water and cocked his eyebrows. "What happened, Two-Bit?"

"Your kid brother here," he jerked his thumb at Ponyboy. "Has got himself a girl."

Soda chocked on his water and it took several thumps on the back from Steve to get him talking again.

"You're kidding me, right?" Soda asked eagerly. "Who is this chick?"

"Soda-" Ponyboy began but Two-Bit cut him off.

"Her name," Two-Bit whispered, as if he were giving top secret information out, "is Rebecca."

Soda leaned back and looked thoughtful. "Rebecca, you say? What's her last name?"

Two-Bit shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? She wasn't a blonde."

"How does she look like? What's she like? What's-" Soda shot questions out like a bullet until Ponyboy stopped him.

"Soda, Two-Bit was just messin' with ya. I got the same amount of girls as Two-Bit here." Ponyboy said tiredly.

Soda looked disappointed. "Really?"

Two-Bit glared at Ponyboy and replied to Soda before Ponyboy had the chance. "He walked her to her class. Very gentlemanly if you ask me."

Soda's eyes widened. "Did he carry her books?" He asked jokingly and Ponyboy groaned.

"No, not yet but I reckon he will soon enough." Two-Bit winked.

Ponyboy glared at both of them. "I hate you guys, you know that?"

Soda grinned and reached over to ruffle his hair. "You don't hate me. I know that by heart. Besides, how come I never heard about this Rebecca girl before?"

Ponyboy sighed. "Because she's new to the school, that's why."

Soda felt relieved. Ever since Ponyboy had come back from Windrixville, people had been treating his kid brother differently. All the greasers wanted to be his friends and socs and middle class kids ignored him or treated him badly. It made Soda madder than heck because he knew that Pony was a good but society was too biased. But maybe with this girl who had no idea about his past won't judge him as harshly, Soda thought hopefully.

Soda grinned at him. "Then I don't need to worry. You've got plenty of time to dazzle her with your charm."

Ponyboy groaned. "You're so lucky that you're my brother."

Soda raised his eyebrows. "And if I wasn't?"

Ponyboy just grinned at him.

"Anyway," Two-Bit drawled. "I'm headin' over to the Nightly Double tonight. Ya'll wanna come?"

Steve shook his head. "I can't. I got a date tonight with Evie."

"I'll come." Soda said sadly. Around this time last year, everything was different. Soda would've doubled up with his buddy with Sandy but she was long now. Even though he was over her now, he couldn't help wonder about the baby that was sure to come out by now and who's kid it was.

"I'll come too. Right, Soda?" Ponyboy interrupted his train of thoughts.

Soda nodded his head but then suddenly remembered something. "Wait, Pone. You can't. Remember you promised Darry that you'd help him grocery shop?

Ponyboy groaned. "Oh yeah, I can't believe I forgot about that. Sorry Two-Bit."

Two-Bit shrugged. "No problem kiddo. We better get goin'; don't want Darry killin' us for making the kid late to class."

"I ain't a kid." Ponyboy grumbled as he gave Soda one last wave and hopped into Steve's car.

They made it just in time, which Two-Bit was quick to inform that he was relieved because he didn't want to die tonight 'cause of Darry. Rolling his eyes, Ponyboy entered the school. He had math class but he couldn't help wonder what class Rebecca had and why she had looked so sad when she looked at his picture in art.

As Ponyboy took a turn, he immediately spotted her. Except, the two socs from art class had caught up to her and another boy soc was with them. Lucy, Gabby and Daniel, he remembered. He detested Lucy and Daniel the most. Once, Daniel had threatened to beat up Johnny for some unfathomable reason but Steve and Two-Bit had stepped in before anything could really happen. Lucy, however, just stood there and watched, which Ponyboy thought was even worse than beating up a kid.

Ponyboy heard Daniel try to crack a joke that Ponyboy thought was terribly lame but Rebecca had laughed at it. Rebecca seemed like an okay girl to Pony and somebody that wouldn't hang out with people like Lucy and Daniel but, Pony sighed as he entered math class, nothing is what it seems.

**A/N: Well, there ya go! I hoped you guys liked it! Just scroll down, write something nice, click 'Post Review' and that would make my day!**

**Remember, more review = faster updates! ;)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I was completely blown away by the amount of reviews I got. You guys are absolutely amazing! Keep it up! Oh, and I might not update for a while 'cause school started and it's track season and I have two projects looming over my head and... well you get the idea. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own The Outsiders. S. E. Hinton does.**

"_Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." _

― _Albert Einstein_

Rebecca entered Writers Workshop class feeling extremely nervous. One scan of the class and she could see that Ponyboy was not in there. She had been hoping for a familiar face when she heard that Lucy and Gabby weren't in this class this period but it seemed like no such luck.

The teacher, a middle-aged woman with curly blonde hair, turned to smile at her.

"Well, hello dearie." The teacher said. "I'm Mrs. Hunt. And you are?"

"Rebecca Meyers." She said tiredly. The whole day was catching up to her and she was feeling dead tired. She was also getting irritated that everybody asked who she was; it was rather annoying to have to answer the same questions over and over again.

"Well, Rebecca, It's a pleasure to have you in this class. Please take a seat." Mrs. Hunt said graciously.

"Thank you." She said and scanned the room for an empty seat was next to this girl, who was wearing a blue jeans jacket and had long greased blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. She eyed Rebecca coolly as Rebecca walked over and took the seat next to her, all the while praying that this period would end already.

"Okay, everyone." Mr. Hunt said to get everybody's attention. "You know what you must do. Trade your rough draft of your business letter with your partner and answer the peer editing sheet. I want total silence in this room for the whole period. Get to work!" She added cheerfully and walked to where Rebecca and the other girl, a greaser, Rebecca guessed from her greased hair and torn up jeans, were sitting.

"Now Cici, do you have your business letter?" Mrs. Hunt asked her. Cici nodded her head.

The teacher looked pleased. "Good, good. I'll just give Rebecca a peer editing sheet and she'll read your letter. Meanwhile, you could catch up on some schoolwork or homework."

Cici twirled her necklace, which had a pendant the shape of the letter C. "That's fine by me." She said.

Mrs. Hunt looked relieved. "Oh thank god." Rebecca heard her mutter as she walked back to her desk to get Rebecca a sheet.

Cici took out a folder and took out her business letter. "Here." She said as she passed it to Rebecca

"Thank you." Rebecca said and she was about to start reading when she caught Cici staring at her.

"What?" She asked.

"You've got the strangest accent." She replied bluntly.

"So I've heard." Rebecca said tiredly. She really was fed up with people staring at her because of her northern accent. Honestly, she though angrily, southerners should listen to themselves speak. It was the funniest thing Rebecca ever heard.

But Cici could feel a smile growing on her face. She looked away from Rebecca and continued to fiddle with her necklace as Rebecca read her business letter.

Rebecca had to admit, she wasn't expecting the business letter to be good. She had noticed that most greasers didn't really care about schools and Lucy told her that there was a senior that was almost 20.

But Cici's business letter was really good. It was very well-written and pretty darn persuasive.

"Wow," Rebecca said as she finished the letter. "That was pretty good."

Cici glanced at her and smiled. "Ya think so?"

Rebecca nodded. "It was." She hesitated before asking. "Uh, what's your real name?"

Cici gave her a hard stare and sighed. "It's Casey but NOBODY calls me that if they know what's good for them." She said as she gave her a pointed look. "Do you have a nickname?" She asked.

"I do," Rebecca said. "But only my friends and family call me by my nicknames." She said as she gave Cici a pointed look.

Cici stared at her for a while and then laughed. "You dig okay." She grinned.

Rebecca smirked when she heard that she 'digged' something. She might as well be on a different planet by the way people were talking.

The rest of the period was spent answering the peer editing sheet and Cici twirling her necklace. This class, Rebecca began to realize, was going to be torture. She did enjoy writing, especially poetry, but doing it for school was a different story.

"Rebecca." Mrs. Hunt called out to her when Rebecca was finished with the worksheet. Rebecca looked up and the teacher motioned her to come up to her desk.

Rebecca got up unsteadily and with a confused expression on her face, walked up to the teacher's desk.

"Rebecca, we will be working on the letter for some time." Mrs. Hunt said as she ruffled through some papers. "We will be working on the poetry unit next so instead of fiddling with your thumbs for the next day, I want you to come up with a free verse poem." She glanced at Rebecca. "Do you think you can do it?"

Rebecca nodded her head and Mrs. Hunt smiled at her. "Well, that's fantastic! I'll have at least one grade for you and I get to see where you are as a writer."

Rebecca gave her a forced smile. "That's great, thank you Mrs. Hunt." She said as she walked back to her seat to pack her things.

"You're welcome sweetheart." She called out and let out a sigh of relief.

"You got her to like you." Cici stated.

Rebecca shrugged. "She seems okay enough."

Cici looked at her. "She is an okay teacher but the thing is that she rarely like the student she teaches. Especially the greasers."

"Oh." Rebecca said. She really didn't know how to reply to that comment.

Cici gave her a look of pity and thankfully the bell had rung. Rebecca grabbed her bag and was about to fly out of the classroom to Social Studies when Cici said, "Well, welcome to Tulsa."

Rebecca smiled at her. "Thanks." She replied and she ran off to her next class.

Halfway walking to Social Studies Rebecca realized that it was another class that she was going to be alone in again. Ponyboy, Lucy and Gabby already had the class. Suddenly Rebecca felt sick. She hated this feeling of loneliness that clung on to her and feeling like she didn't belong. All her life she knew what she was doing, who her friends were, what she wanted to be, where to go and etc. New York had always been her home and never in her life had she thought that she was gonna have to move out.

I'm totally going back there for college, Rebecca thought as she walked into Social Studies class.

She immediately saw Daniel Kile, who was sitting next to a boy with wavy brown hair and brown eyes. Daniel waggled his fingers at her and she grinned. Daniel was a friend of Lucy and Gabby's, although Gabby had said that Lucy and Daniel were on their way to being more than best friends which of course Lucy denied while blushing a fierce red.

Daniel looked around to see if there was a seat near him for Rebecca to sit but no such luck. He gave her a sad face which she returned with a smile as she took a seat in the front of the class.

The teacher, Mr. Cody, walked in and after introductions were done, he beckoned Rebecca to his desk.

"Do you know any of the answers on this worksheet?" He asked in a booming voice while handing her a piece of paper.

Once again, Rebecca was clue less as to what was on the worksheet. She had always been okay in Social Studies but that was then and this is now she guessed.

Great job Dad, you make me switch school in the middle of the semester, Rebecca thought bitterly.

Mr. Cody sighed as Rebecca told him that she didn't know any of the answers. He took out a textbook and flipped through the pages.

"Here," He handed the textbook to her. "Read chapters 7-10 by Friday."

Rebecca suppressed a groan. She hated reading non-fiction and on top of that she had to catch up on her math. This day keeps getting better and better, Rebecca thought grimly as she walked back to her seat.

As Mr. Cody taught the class, Rebecca tried to read the chapters that she was assigned but she just couldn't. Everything she read slipped out of her mind until she couldn't take it anymore and slammed the textbook.

Unfortunately, she slammed it a bit too hard because everybody in the class stopped what they were doing and stared at her. She shrunk back in her seat and blushed.

"Is there anything wrong, Ms. Meyers?" Mr. Cody asked while raising his eyebrows.

Rebecca's blush deepened and she shook her head.

"Good." Mr. Cody said. "And mind you, those textbooks are quite old. I ask that you take better care and respect for it."

The class snickered and went back to the lesson. Rebecca, however, wanted to crawl under the floor and just die. She hated being humiliated and hated being in the center of attention. She didn't like Tulsa before but now she absolutely loathed it. She knew she was being a tad bit dramatic but she honestly couldn't help it. Rebecca could feel anger, frustration, loneliness and homesickness bubbling in her and she knew if she didn't do something she'd burst.

Take a deep breath Rebecca, she reminded herself. Nothing good ever comes out when you burst out in anger. For the rest of the period, Rebecca read (or tried to read) the textbook pages assigned by her teacher. In the end, she didn't know a single word she read and she just concluded that she'd ask James about this and he'd give her a short summary.

When the bell rang, Rebecca quickly packed her stuff and got out as fast as her feet could take her without seeming too eager. All she wanted to do was just finish the day and go home. Or at least the place she had to call a home now.

**A/N: All right, there ya go. I feel like I'm dragging Rebecca's first day but I need to introduce all the essential characters and I swear, I'll get the story going. I have soo many great scenes playing in my head. Can't wait to write them!**

**Scroll down, type up a nice comment or suggestion, click 'Post Review' and that would make my day! And as a bonus, I'll update faster!**

**So remember; more reviews=faster updates! ;)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Thank you guys soo much for the reviews! They mean soo much to me! Keep it up!**

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own The Outsiders. I don't know how many times I have to tell you guys... ;)**

"_You must remember, family is often born of blood, but it doesn't depend on blood. Nor is it exclusive of friendship. Family members can be your best friends, you know. And best friends, whether or not they are related to you, can be your family." _

― _Trenton Lee Stewart, The Mysterious Benedict Society_

As Rebecca walked through the hallway, she glanced at her schedule. Okay Rebecca, she chided herself. You only have chemistry and then gym. You can last that long.

She kept repeating those words as she entered her science class. Upon arriving, she immediately spotted two familiar people. The room was filled with long, black tables that allowed three people to sit in one table. She spotted Ponyboy in the back sitting alone and twirling his pencil in a bored fashion. Gabby however, was beckoning Rebecca to sit with her and the boy who was sitting next to Daniel in English in the front of the classroom. Rebecca hesitated as she glanced at Ponyboy, who still hadn't noticed that she was in the classroom. She sighed as she walked over to Gabby who was grinning up at her. Gabby motioned Rebecca to sit in between her and the boy.

"Hey, Rebecca! This is Luke, by the way. Just to warn ya, he's completely insane and stupid and he'll drive you nuts. He's also-" Gabby started but Luke interrupted her.

"Her twin brother." He smiled and brought his hand out for a handshake. "My full name's Lucas Robertson but everybody just calls me Luke."

Rebecca tentatively placed her hand in his warm and firm ones for a handshake. "Umm, my full name's Rebecca Meyers but everybody back home used to call me Becky." She said shyly.

Luke grinned. "So do you want us to call you Becky?"

"Uh no. I mean yes. No wait, I mean it doesn't matter." She stuttered as she talked to or at least attempted to talk to Luke. Wow, talk much Rebecca? She thought angrily as she turned to talk to Gabby to avoid any other humiliation with Luke.

"So uh, you never said that you had a twin brother." Rebecca told Gabby.

"You never asked." Replied Gabby while she looked amusingly at Luke and Rebecca.

"So do you have any other siblings that I should I know of?" Rebecca asked her.

Gabby smiled. "No, but we do have a little ten year old brother named Andy but you won't meet him here."

"Oh." Rebecca said as she watched a short, pudgy man with brown hair that was graying and grayish eyes walk into the classroom. This was the teacher Rebecca assumed.

"Mr. Gibson." Luke whispered to her and Rebecca nodded to show that she understood.

"Good afternoon!" Mr. Gibson said cheerfully to the class. "And I see that we have a new edition to the class. What's your name, sweetheart?" Mr. Gibson asked her kindly.

"Rebecca Meyers." Rebecca repeated for what seemed like the millionth time today.

Ponyboy looked up, surprised. Sure enough, he saw that Rebecca sitting up front with Gabby and her brother. He really hadn't noticed; he was busy thinking of ways he could avoid grocery shopping with Darry tonight. Wow, I really am absentminded, he though mildly surprised.

Mr. Gibson smiled at her. "Well, it's a pleasure to have you." He said as he walked to his desk and pulled out a poster.

"Mr. Robertson, could you help me with this?" Mr. Gibson asked kindly as he tried to separate the posters.

"Sure thing, Mr. G." Luke said as he got up from his seat and helped the teacher unroll the poster and place it on the board. Rebecca watched as the periodic table unraveled in front of her. Rebecca sighed. She wasn't the best student when it came to science but she was pretty decent when it came to the periodic table.

Mr. Gibson glanced at Rebecca. "Did you learn about this, Ms. Meyers?"

Rebecca nodded. "We started this topic back home." She said. Thankfully, she added in her head.

Mr. Gibson slightly frowned. "We are almost done with this topic. I'll just give you a copy of the notes and a textbook and I'm sure a bright student like yourself can catch up in no time." He smiled at her.

Rebecca immediately like Mr. Gibson right then and there. He didn't make her feel stupid like Mr. Cody did and he technically didn't give her homework like how Mrs. Mazz and Mr. Cody did. Maybe I might just do better in science after all, she thought happily.

"In fact, I'll just give you a textbook right now and you couldn't catch up or you could listen to the annoying guy up front so you could be on the same track as the class. Which one do you want?" He asked her nicely.

"The textbook." She decided. No point on trying to go ahead while you're so far behind, Rebecca reasoned.

Mr. Gibson smiled at her. "Good choice, Ms. Meyers. Why don't you go to the back and let Mr. Curtis give you a textbook and show you where you need to read?" Mr. Gibson said.

Ponyboy shot his head up when he heard his name. "I'm here!" He said as he assumed that Mr. Gibson was doing attendance.

"Thank you, Mr. Curtis but I wasn't calling for attendance." Mr. Gibson with an amused expression. The class snickered at him while Rebecca shot him a look of understanding as Ponyboy blushed a beet red.

"I had asked that since you are sitting closer to the textbooks that you show Ms. Meyers here where she could catch up and read about the periodic table." Mr. Gibson said.

"Oh." Ponyboy said as he looked at Rebecca. "Yeah sure, I can do that."

"Good. And thank you for your help, Mr. Curtis." Mr. Gibson said. Ponyboy smiled; he had always liked Mr. Gibson because he treated him with respect and he didn't give a hang if he was a greaser or soc. He was just another student and Ponyboy liked that he treated everybody equally.

Rebecca got up from her seat and walked towards him with a smile on her face.

"Hey." She said as she sat beside him.

Ponyboy nodded his head to show that he acknowledged her and began flipping through the textbooks pages looking for the periodic table.

"Here." Ponyboy said as he dropped the textbook in front of her. "Just read these pages and you should be good."

Rebecca looked at the pages and gives Ponyboy a frightened look. "You're kidding me, right?"

Ponyboy glanced at her and noticed for the first time how completely tired and worn she looked.

"Hey," Ponyboy said softly and Rebecca gave him a tired look. "It's really easy once you get the hang of it."

Rebecca gave him a tormented look. "For you maybe. But when it comes to me, things like this are like trying to hold water with your hands. You've got it for a while but before you know it, all the water slipped right through your fingers." Rebecca sighed.

Ponyboy blinked at her. "What?" He asked after a while.

Rebecca glanced at him and gave him a sad smile. "Sorry. I tend to talk in a weird way according to my brother. It drives him nuts." She said sadly. The only person who really did understand her was her mother but now she only had her father and brother to annoy with her cryptic talking.

"No, I understand you." Ponyboy smiled at her. "I was just caught her guard. And I dig what you're saying about brothers not understanding you; that's the story of my life."

Rebecca looked at the boy who was sitting next to her. He really didn't seem like anything special at a single glance. He had longish reddish brown hair with the tips of them slightly blonde that curled behind his ears and at the nape of his neck, all greased back. His eyes were a greenish gray and he was rather tall. The top of Rebecca's head only reached the tip of his nose. He was better looking than most boys in Rebecca's opinion but other than that, he just seemed like an ordinary boy. But from that single statement that came out of his mouth Rebecca could tell that he was anything but ordinary. No one had really understood her the way her mother did, not even James. But now Rebecca slowly realized that she was about to be proven wrong.

"Ms. Meyers!" Mr. Gibson interrupted her train of thought. "Did you get the textbook pages you needed?" He asked.

Rebecca nodded. "Good." He said. "I put the note packet here." He patted a packet that laid in between Gabby and Luke.

"Thank you." She told the teacher and got up to back to her original seat.

"Hey, Ponyboy." She said and he looked up. "Thank you for your help." She said sincerely. And for understanding me, she added quietly in her mind.

He gave her a polite smile. "No problem."

She smiled back and turned around to go back to her seat.

"So class, if the atomic number of yttrium is..." Mr. Gibson droned on as Rebecca tried to study her notes. Unlike Social Studies, Rebecca was able to grasp some sort of idea of what was going on. Atomic numbers and the organization of the periodic table was simple enough. It was just the whole thing about atomic mass and protons and neutrons that was confusing her a bit.

"Rebecca, would you like a worksheet?" Mr. Gibson asked her as he handed everyone in the class one. Rebecca forced a smile and nodded her head and Mr. Gibson gave her one.

"Hey Rebecca, look at this." Luke said to her and she glanced at his piece of paper. On it, Luke had taken the boxes from the periodic table and matched it so it spelled her name.

"You're made out of rhenium, beryllium, carbon and calcium." He joked. Gabby glanced over Rebecca's shoulders and rolled her eyes while suppressing a smile.

"He does it to everybody." Gabby explained when she saw Rebecca's confused but amused expression. "He did it to me and Lucy. Apparently I'm made out of what again, Luke?"

Luke glanced at the periodic table. "You're made up of gallium, boron, boron again and yttrium." He replied.

"What are you made up of?" Rebecca played along as Gabby rolled her eyes.

Luke grinned. "Why don't you check for yourself?" He said as he passed her the periodic table.

Rebecca smiled and immediately tried to make his names using the periodic table.

She frowned a couple of minutes later. "I can't make Luke because there is no E." She said.

"There isn't." Luke agreed. "Try Lucas."

Rebecca went back to the periodic table with renewed effort and this time she came out successful. "You are made up of lutetium, carbon and arsenic." She recited and raised her eyebrows at him. "Arsenic huh? Poisonous aren't you?"

"Very." Luke replied and he winked at her.

Rebecca blushed and she nervously drummed her fingers against her knee. What's wrong with you? She scowled to herself. Why can't you talk and think like a regular human being in this class?

"So, Luke what did Daniel tell you about him and Luce?" Gabby asked as she shot Rebecca an amused glance.

Luke shook his head. "You're crazy if you think I'm gonna tell you this. But don't worry about it Gabs." He said reassuringly.

"Lucy will kill me if I don't her anything." Gabby warned.

Luke snorted. "Then I give her permission." He said and he ducked as Gabby attempted to smack him.

The bell rang and there was a mad rush to get out of the classroom. Rebecca tried to stuff the science textbook in her backpack but it wouldn't fit. She blew some hair out of her eyes and gave an annoyed glance at her backpack.

"Need help?" Luke asked, noticing Rebecca's annoyed expression.

She smiled at him. "It's okay." She replied.

Luke however ignored her as he picked up her textbook. "What class do you have now?" He asked as he walked her out the class.

"Gym. But Luke, you don't have to carry that; I can do it for myself." Rebecca said as she attempted to take the textbook from Luke.

Luke grinned. "Don't worry about it. I have band now and the band room is right next to the gym. I'll walk you there."

Rebecca sighed, pretending to be annoyed by Luke's stubbornness. "Fine. Where's Gabby anyway?" She turned her head to look over her shoulder to look for Gabby but instead she caught the eyes of Ponyboy. They stared at each other for a second until Ponyboy broke her gaze and glanced at Luke, who was talking right next to her. Rebecca blushed and turned away and as she headed toward gym, she prayed that the day would just end already so that she can go back to her so called home and just sleep the rest of the day.

**A/N: So, there you guys go! I hope you guys enjoyed it!**

**Scroll down, type up a nice comment or suggestion, click 'Post Review' and that would make my day! And as a bonus, I'll update faster!**

**So remember, more reviews = faster updates! ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: All right guys, I am sooooo sorry that I haven't updated in a looong time! I am very busy with school and whatnot and I am soo sorry! Thank you guys for all the lovely reviews! Keep them up!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders.**

_"Never shall I forget the days I spent with you. Continue to be my friend, as you will always find me yours."_

_- Ludwig van Beethoven_

"Well, Daniel has gym this period, so you really don't need to worry about unfamiliar faces too much." Luke said as he handed Rebecca her textbook when they arrived at gym.

"Thanks again for holding my textbook." Rebecca said as she smiled at Luke.

"No problem." He replied. "And hey, you'll get used to Tulsa. It's actually a pretty awesome place to live in." Luke added.

One look at Luke's sincere face was all Rebecca needed to see that he was speaking the truth. "Thank you and I'm sure I'll get used to living here." Rebecca said with one last smile and she entered the gym. The gym had big nets set up and one look at the balls and Rebecca knew that they were playing volleyball. She groaned inwardly. Rebecca wasn't a pro at volleyball but even she had to admit that it just wasn't her sport.

The teacher, a young and somewhat energetic woman, approached her. After the usual introduction were made, the teacher, whose name Rebecca learned was Ms. Peterson, gave her a pair of the school uniform for gym. Rebecca, with a tight smile, gave her a polite thank you and went into the locker room to change. When she came out, she couldn't help but grimace at her appearance in the mirror. Will Rogers High School's color were blue and gold, tow colors that Rebecca realized weren't good on her. The blue shorts made her legs skinny and unattractive while the yellow shirt with the school logo just didn't fit her. Her dark hair flowed over her shoulders as if it hadn't been combed for days. She gave out a huff of breath.

"Just this last period Rebecca, just this last one." She muttered as she walked back out to the gym. She walked out and Ms. Peterson showed her assigned spot for now. All the kids stared at her, which Rebecca ignored. She was just too tired and her patience was wearing thin for her to handle their stares right now.

After the warm ups and stretches were done, the teacher asked the students to pick a partner so they could practice how to volley with a volleyball. She demonstrated how when you set the ball, it should make a sound and how the arms should in an upward position.

As everybody began looking around for a partner, Rebecca could feel how really alone she was. In gym, she and Chloe would always partner up. Always, Rebecca knew what she would do the minute she walked out of the locker room but now she was absolutely clueless.

"Hey uh, Rebecca! Wanna partner up with me?" Someone asked from behind her. Rebecca turned around and saw Daniel Kile behind her, twirling a ball.

She smiled at him gratefully and nodded her head. He led her to the back of the gym and began setting the ball to her while Rebecca attempted to volley it back.

"So Luce tells me you're from New York." Daniel said as they fell into an awkward silence.

Rebecca hit the ball and it finally made a perfect arch towards Daniel although her wrists were starting to hurt. "Umm, yeah. I'm from New York." She said finally.

Daniel nodded his head. "Did you like it?" He asked politely.

Rebecca nodded her head. "How about the subways and train? I heard New York's got the biggest in the world. What are they like?" Daniel asked, trying to make conversation. He, of course had been on a train but only once in his life and he was too young then to fully remember it now.

Rebecca made a face. "The trains were okay and were one of the fastest ways to travel, if you don't mind the smell and the dirt."

Daniel gave a polite nod and the rest of the period was spent volleying the ball back and forth. By the end of the period, Rebecca arms were sore and she rubbed her wrists on the spot where she kept on hitting the hard ball. Even Daniel was rotating his shoulders from setting the ball to Rebecca.

"See you tomorrow." Daniel said as he walked towards the boy's locker room.

"Yeah, you too." Rebecca mumbled and she went back to change into her regular clothes. She gathered her books and raced out of the locker room to her locker. She successfully managed to find her locker without getting lost or doubling back to see if she had passed it. In her rush to get out of school early, she shoved all of her binders in haphazardly and didn't notice until it was too late when her science textbook came tumbling out and smashed her toes. She pursed her lips to prevent her from screaming the string of curse words that she would usually say and she looked up to see Ponyboy giving her an amused expression.

"Here, I'll get this for you." Ponyboy said as he stooped down and got her textbook.

"Thanks." She said and she shoved her textbook into her backpack.

"Eager to leave?" Ponyboy asked and Rebecca blushed.

"Yeah." She admitted and watched Pony's slow motions of getting his things to get ready to go. "You don't seem so eager yourself."

"Track season started and today's the first practice." He replied.

Rebecca made a face. "I once tried track in my old school and by the end of the season I vowed to just stick with soccer."

Ponyboy glanced at her. "Track ain't that bad once you get the hang of it. There's a lot of running in soccer too."

"Yeah but you're running after a ball. In track, there's just running. Well, there are other things like the long jump and such but that's it."

Ponyboy shot her an amused glance. He opened his mouth to say something but he was interrupted by a girl passing through the hallway.

"Hi Ponyboy." A girl with long, greased blackish blue ringlets that fell to her waist gave Ponyboy a flirtatious smile.

Ponyboy gave her a casual nod. "Hi Angela." He replied. The girl frowned at him but continued to move on with her girlfriends.

Rebecca tried hard to suppress her smile but she failed. The thing was, Angela reminded her of Chloe. Every day, Chloe would make both Phoebe and Rebecca take the long route to class to just say hi to her crush, Cody. Chloe would always try to say hi to him in the hallways but most of the time he would just nod his head at her or forget her name even. Boys were always going to be clueless, no matter where I am, Rebecca thought amusingly as Ponyboy gave a puzzling glance.

"Why are you laughing?" He asked as he handed her textbook back. Rebecca closed her locker and just shook her head. "Nothing. It's just that girl reminded me of someone. Do you know her, by the way?" She inquired.

"No, not really. I know her older brothers better though." He answered.

Rebecca nodded her head and turned around to leave. "Well, it was nice meeting you." She said to Ponyboy.

"You too." He said politely and Rebecca walked out the front door and looked for her brother's car.

X-X-X-X

Rebecca immediately spotted her father's SUV with her brother casually drinking soda in the driver's seat.

"Hey James." She said as climbed through the car.

James glanced at her over the rim of the soda bottle. "You look terrible." He said as he started the car.

Rebecca raised her eyebrows at him. "Thanks Jamie, I've always wanted to look like shit." She said while rolling her eyes.

"Language." James warned her.

Rebecca blew some hair out of her eyes. "I'm sorry James. I just feel really cranky."

"You don't say." James murmured and Rebecca playfully slapped his arm. "But in all seriousness is you had to rate your day from a one to a ten, one being terrible and ten being terrific, what would you rate it?" He asked her.

Rebecca thought about it for a while. Her day could most certainly have gone much worst then it turned out but it was the feeling of being out of sorts that kept her from really enjoying her day. "I would say maybe a four." She decided.

He glanced at her and he could feel his heart give a squeeze. His sister had always been happy and always had a smile on her face but one glance at her and he could see isolation printed all over her face.

"Well, Dad's got something for you back home that I'm sure will cheer you up a bit." James said with a reassuring smile.

Rebecca, however, looked skeptical. "What is it?" She asked, curiosity tinged in her voice.

"Just you wait and see." James said as he pulled up in their driveway. Their house was a regular yellow two story house with a wide porch and a garage. It was colonial looking and the only upside James saw in this move was that they were no longer living in an apartment. Rebecca looked at their new home, sighed and walked out of the car with her backpack slung over her shoulders. James quickly followed her to their house.

"Dad! I'm back!" Rebecca shouted as she tossed her backpack on to the sofa.

"I'm in the kitchen with Linda, honey!" Her father shouted right back.

Both James and Rebecca made a face. Both of them didn't like the fact that their father had remarried but if Linda made him happy, who were they to stop him?

"Now here's my little girl!" Her father exclaimed as Rebecca walked into the kitchen. Despite the lonely day, Rebecca could feel a smile growing on her face as she walked over and hugged her father.

"Terrible. Well sorta." She answered.

He pulled her daughter away and tried to read her expression. "Now why is that?" He frowned.

"I don't know anybody or the things the teachers are teaching. They're all ahead in the curriculum and already gave me tons of work that I don't want to do." She replied, distress lingering in her tone.

Her father rubbed his hands on his face and sighed. He knew that the move to a new state would be hard on his children, especially since Bethany's death (their mother), but it was essential. "Honey, I'm sure you'll get to know some people and you'll catch up just fine. You've always been a bright girl."

Rebecca snorted. "Real funny Dad. You know, starting next week, my math teacher wants me to stay after school so she can catch me up with the rest of the class? Yeah Dad, your daughter here is incredibly brilliant." She said sourly.

Her father raised his eyebrows. "Watch the attitude, Rebecca." He warned.

Rebecca's face softened and she slumped into a seat across from her stepmother. "I'm sorry Dad. I just had a tough day, that's all." She said softly.

Her father's face softened. "I know, honey. But one day you'll be begging to stay here." He winked. He watched his daughter's skeptical face and sighed. "Anywho, I have something that might cheer you up a bit."

Rebecca sat up straighter in her chair. "What is it? James wouldn't tell me in the car."

Her father chuckled. "Just wait here." He said and he left to go upstairs to retrieve Rebecca's surprise.

"So, uh, how was your day, Linda?" Rebecca asked her stepmother as an awkward silence fell upon the kitchen.

Linda pursed her lips. "It was fine." She said. "I'm guessing yours wasn't that great, huh?" She added and she gave out a tight, strained laugh. Linda took her wavy blonde hair and tied it back into ponytail in order to avoid any eye contact with Rebecca.

Rebecca and James, however, gave each other surprised glances. Rebecca couldn't help but wonder why Linda always seemed to act like this in front of them and from James's baffled face, Rebecca guessed that her brother didn't have a clue either.

Thankfully, their father had walked in at that moment and he gave a wide grin to Rebecca. "I knew you weren't going to like the move to Oklahoma and that you'd miss your friends and your Aunt Sally, so I figured you should be able to call them. You can only call them through this phone card because we don't have nationwide calling but it's just for today." Her father said as he walked over to Rebecca and picked up the phone. "Okay, who do you want to call first?" He asked eagerly, determined to make his daughter feel better because it was his fault that she was upset in the first place.

"Umm, how about Aunt Sally?" She said hesitantly. "James, do you want to talk to her too?" She asked.

James shook his head. "Already talked to her, sis." He said as he walked out of the kitchen, but not after he ruffled Rebecca's hair affectionately.

"He needs to stop doing that." Rebecca grumbled as she tried to fix her hair.

Her father smiled. "He only does it because he cares." He said as he handed Rebecca the phone. "It's ringing. When you finished your call, just click pound and dial another number." He got up and glanced at Linda. "We'll give you some privacy." Linda got up and gave Rebecca a very fake smile as she and her father left the room. Rebecca sighed and pushed Linda out of her mind as she placed the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" Her aunt's husband, Uncle Dan, answered the phone.

"Hello, Uncle Dan?" Rebecca asked just to make sure.

There was a slight pause. "Who is this?" Her uncle demanded.

Rebecca rolled her eyes even though her Uncle Dan couldn't see it. "You forgot your only niece already?" Rebecca joked.

"Rebecca! God, is it great to hear from you!" Her uncle exclaimed.

Rebecca felt a lump starting to form in her throat. "It's great to hear from you too, Uncle Dan. I miss you soo much." She managed to say through the lump.

"Sweetheart, the feeling is mutual. Ollie hasn't stop howling since you left." Ollie was Rebecca's aunt and uncle's beagle and Rebecca would always walk Ollie on sunny days in Central Park. He was the clumsiest dog on earth; always banging into trees and walls and always skiing across her aunt's tiled floors. Rebecca felt a pang in her chest where Ollie, the world sweetest dog, belonged.

"Give Ollie a kiss for me." She asked her uncle.

"Sure thing sweetheart. Listen, I'd love to talk to you some more but your aunt is practically trying to claw the phone out of my hand to just talk to you. Jeez, Sally here you go." Rebecca heard her uncle say.

Rebecca laughed at her aunt and uncle's antic. You would've thought they were just teenagers instead of full grown adults.

"Rebecca?" Her aunt breathlessly into the phone.

"Hey Aunt Sally!" Rebecca answered. Unlike her Uncle Dan, her Aunt Sally was related to her by blood. She was Rebecca's mother's older sister and Uncle Dan was her husband.

"Oh god Rebecca, I miss seeing your beautiful face every day! Sweetheart, I wish you never moved!" Her aunt wept over the phone.

"Hey, I never wanted to move from New York. It was all Dad's idea." She protested.

There was a slight pause over the phone. "So how do you like your new home?" Her aunt asked her abruptly.

Rebecca was slightly surprised but she ignored it. "I like it just fine." She lied.

"How about your new school?" Her aunt asked again. "Do you like it?"

"I like it too." She lied and she began to tell her aunt about her day. She told her about Ponyboy and her aunt laughed at the name. She told her about Gabby and Lucy and her aunt commented on how nice they seemed. She sympathized Rebecca when she told her about being so far behind in class. It wasn't until beep rang out on the other line did Rebecca realized how much time had gone by.

"Sweetheart, I have to go. It's an important call on the other line. Promise you'll call often?" Her aunt asked.

Rebecca didn't want to hang up with her aunt. She wanted to sit here and talk all day with her; like they would on rainy days in New York. But Rebecca blinked back the tears and answered. "Sure Aunt Sally. You call often too, okay?"

"I'll try cupcake. You give my love to James, okay?" Her aunt said hurriedly.

"Okay. Want me to give Dad your greetings?" She asked, wanting to hear her aunt's voice just a little bit longer.

There was a slight pause and Rebecca had thought her aunt had hung up when she heard her aunt say, "Sure, you go do whatever you heart tells you to do. Remember that you're beautiful and that me and your Uncle Dan will love you forever, okay? Goodbye darling." Her aunt replied with a shaky voice.

"Bye Aunt Sally." Rebecca said in a similar shaky voice and her aunt hanged up.

Rebecca could feel tears threatening to spill out of her eyes and she hastily rubbed them away. Crying won't get you anywhere, Rebecca, she scolded herself. She sighed and began to dial another familiar number.

"Hello?" Chloe's familiar voice through the phone.

"Guess who?" Rebecca said while maintaining a light tone.

"Oh my god, Rebecca I can't believe it's you! I miss you soo much! Phoebe, it's Rebecca!" Chloe called out.

"Oh my god, Rebecca I miss you soo much!" Phoebe exclaimed through the phone.

"I miss you guys too." Rebecca smiled.

"New York isn't the same without you!" Chloe said sorrowfully.

"Yeah, I miss it too. Hey, can you guys do me a favor? Can you guys go to Brooklyn Bakery and eat my favorite cupcake for me? I'm already missing the taste of it." Rebecca said sadly.

"Honey, we'll order a whole bakers dozen of them. Screw weight, I'm gonna eat those cupcakes for you darling." Chloe promised.

"Me too!" Phoebe added.

"Tell me Becky, are there any cute boys in your school? Any people that can almost be as awesome as me and Phoebe? How about your new home? We need details Rebecca!" Chloe shouted over the phone.

Rebecca laughed and considered Chloe's question. Rebecca thought of Ponyboy and Luke when Chloe asked about cute boys but she shoved that thought away and decided not to answer it. She told them about Lucy and Gabby and just about everything else that needed to be said.

"What about you guys?" Rebecca asked. "Anything new happened?"

Almost immediately, Chloe launched into a story about how the "it" girl back in Rebecca's old school was creating more drama than ever and Phoebe chimed in if Chloe forgot a detail. It was in that moment where Rebecca could feel how far away her friends really were from her. Life was continuing on in New York while she was still trying to get a solid grip on her new one. A fresh wave of sadness washed over her and took all her self- control to not cry right then and there.

"Rebecca," Chloe said over the phone, dragging Rebecca back into reality. "I have to go. I'm so sorry."

"That's okay. I'll miss you guys." Rebecca choked.

There was a slight pause. Maybe Chloe's realizing this is it, Rebecca thought. "Rebecca Bailey Meyers. I want you to remember something. I don't care if you're on another freaking planet! You'll always be my best friend forever." She said with determination.

"Me too!" Phoebe added.

Rebecca could feel a smile growing despite everything that had happened. "Thanks guys. I love you too."

"Love ya!" Both of them screamed and they hanged up.

Rebecca rolled her eyes as she looked at the phone. Those crazy girls, she thought as she mentally recalled all of their adventures. Before she knew it, she burst into tears and couldn't stop the gut wrenching sobs that were coming up. All her life, Rebecca knew that looking back on the tears would make her laugh but she never anticipated that looking back on to the laughs would bring her tears.

She felt an arm go around her and she looked up and saw James's blue eyes swim with concern for her. He opened his arms for her and she gratefully climbed onto his lap like she did when she was young and he held her tight.

"Hey, I am so sorry." He whispered.

"It's okay. Hold on, I'll stop crying in a second." She mumbled against his shirt.

He pulled her away from him and made Rebecca look him in the eye. "Rebecca, you can cry as long as you like if it makes you feel better. I just need you to tell me what's wrong and if there's anything I can do about it." He said sincerely.

Rebecca laughed a little before she leaned over and hugged her brother tight. She was once again reminded how amazing James was and how lucky she was to have him as a brother.

"I have something that I know will cheer you up." James said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. Rebecca leaned over to get a better view of it.

Rebecca crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows at James. "Jamie, this is a grocery list. How will this make me feel better?"

He winked at her. "You'll see," he replied as he brought his hand out to help her up. "But for now, follow me."

X-X-X-X

Back in the Curtis house, Ponyboy was helping his brothers set up the table for dinner. Tonight was Soda's turn to cook dinner and Ponyboy just prayed that dinner would actually resemble something. As Darry and Ponyboy sat down for dinner, Soda popped up with the food and graciously placed it in front of them. Ponyboy and Darry leaned over and too their shock, Soda had somehow made blue stir fry.

"How is this possible?" Darry demanded.

Soda, however, continued to hum a song and began to pile food on his plate. "I felt like blue stir fry would be a new twist." He said nonchalantly.

Darry shook his head but began to eat Soda's cooking. It was a regular dinner that night; Soda talking nonstop, not even bothering to see if his brothers were paying attention or not.

"And," Soda concluded. "Two-Bit stopped by the DX and kindly informed that our kid brother had got himself a girl. Some chick named Rebecca or something."

Darry choked on his water while Ponyboy blushed a fierce red. "What?" Darry asked with an unreadable expression on his face.

Soda shrugged. "That's what good ol' Two-Bit told me. Pony denies it."

"Because I just met her today!" Ponyboy protested.

Darry rolled his eyes and began to carry the dirty dishes to the sink. "Pony, come one! It's our turn to clean the dishes!" Darry hollered as he ran the hot water. A disgruntled Ponyboy came in with a smiling Soda tagging along.

As Pony and Darry washed the dishes, Darry turned towards Pony with a smile on his face. "So, care to share us about this Rebecca girl?"

Ponyboy groaned as he dried the last plate. "Come one, Dare. If you want to go grocery shopping, we need to leave now because I've got homework." Ponyboy said as he left to grab his jacket.

Darry and Soda gave each other amused glances. "Oh boy, this is gonna be fun. I remember when I annoyed you about your first crush." Darry teased.

Soda groaned. "Please be merciful to Ponyboy!" He exclaimed and Darry just chuckled as he grabbed his jacket and followed their kid brother outside.

**A/N: Well, there you go! I hope you guys like it! I may not update for a while because I'm just too busy. **

**But if you scroll down, type up something nice, click 'Post Review' I just might update faster! ;)**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hey guys, soo sorry about the long wait! I'm officially done with all those projects and I'll be able to update faster! Thank god! Thank you for all the lovely reviews and keep them up!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders. **

"_When those you love die, the best you can do is honor their spirit for as long as you live. You make a commitment that you're going to take whatever lesson that person or animal was trying to teach you, and you make it true in your own life... it's a positive way to keep their spirit alive in the world, by keeping it alive in yourself." _

― _Patrick Swayze, The Time of My Life_

"James, what do you have planned?" Rebecca asked curiously at her older brother, who was driving their father car.

James glanced at her. "You haven't guessed yet?" He asked incredulously.

Rebecca shook her head. "Jamie, just tell me." She said wearily.

James gave her another stupefied look and sighed. "Remember when we were kids, Mom would take us grocery shopping but she invented a game for us to make shopping faster?" The look of realization on Rebecca's face encouraged him to go on. "She'd give us each a half of the grocery list and whoever finished collecting their grocery list first wins? I figured we haven't done that a while and that this would make you smile." He said sheepishly.

Rebecca stared at her brother. "You'll still remember that?" She asked.

James nodded and Rebecca leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Jamie, have I ever told you how amazing you were?" She said with admiration.

"Yes, but I still think you should say it more often." He winked at her.

Rebecca groaned. "You're so vain, James!" She said but she couldn't help the laughter that followed.

James just smiled as he parked the car in the supermarket's parking lot. He took out the grocery list his father had given him and neatly tears it in two. He handed one half to his sister and kept the other half.

"So what's the prize gonna be?" Rebecca asked she scanned her list.

"Umm, how about loser gives winner ten dollars?" James suggested.

Rebecca thought about it and finally nodded her head. "Are you ready to lose?" She said with a smirk.

James raised his eyebrows at her. "Cocky aren't you? Well, we'll see about this!" He said as he jumped out of the car. Rebecca quickly followed him and they entered the store. James immediately placed a cart he picked up in a remote spot. He glanced at his sister and smiled at the determination in her eyes.

"You ready?" He asked and she nodded.

"All right, when I say go, it begins. Ready, set, GOAT!" James said and Rebecca sprinted ahead until she realized what her brother did. She turned around and walked back towards with her arms crossed.

"Jamie." She said, her voice tinged with annoyance but all James did was laugh.

"I'm sorry, Rebecca but I couldn't help myself. You always fell for it when we were kids and it seems like you're just as naïve." James shook his head as he laughed and Rebecca stuck her tongue out at him.

"Okay, okay. I'm serious now. Ready… Set… GOAT!" James yelled again and he doubled up in his laughter when Rebecca had run off again. Rebecca stalked over to where her brother was laughing and glared at him.

"James Calvin Meyers, do that again and I'll kill you." She said, her voice filled with venom.

"No you won't! You love me!" James said in between his fits of laughter.

"I seriously doubt that now." Rebecca murmured and James reached over to ruffle her hair affectionately.

"Okay, I'm going to act serious now," he said and he grinned as he saw Rebecca shoot him a skeptical look. "Ready, set…GO!" By the time Rebecca realized her brother hadn't been kidding this time, James was already half way across the store. Rebecca cursed her brother silently for tricking her and she looked down at her own list to see what she needed.

Carrots, milk, bread, pasta, flour and the list went on. Rebecca vaguely wondered if James gave her a longer list than he had but Rebecca remembered James counting the list and it came out evenly. Rebecca sighed and began looking for the items on her list.

X-X-X-X

"So Ponyboy, do you want to explain what Two-Bit told Soda?" Darry asked while trying to hide a smile. He rarely found a reason to tease Ponyboy but now Two-Bit gave him the perfect opportunity.

"Now," Ponyboy said as he took his breath and fogged up the truck's side window so he can doodle.

"Why not?" Darry insisted.

"Because I'm tired," Ponyboy answered shortly.

Darry sighed and parked the truck in the supermarket's parking lot. "Why are you so stubborn?" He mumbled as he climbed out.

Ponyboy smirked at him and climbed out too. "Well, I had to pick up that trait from someone." Ponyboy said and Darry punched him on the shoulder affectionately.

A Darry walked towards the store, he picked up the cart and entered the supermarket. "Okay, what do we need, Ponyboy?" Darry asked as he pushed the cart through the store.

Ponyboy glanced at the list Soda had provided for them. "Carrots, apples, a pack of flour and frosting." Ponyboy squinted his eyes to read the next part. "Soda also wrote that we need to buy some 'fun' for you."

Darry stopped pushing the cart and stared at his kid brother. "You're kidding me, right?" He asked him.

Ponyboy smirked and handed him the list. "Read for yourself."

Darry took the list from Ponyboy and rolled his eyes at what Soda wrote. "Will that boy ever grow up?" He mumbled to himself.

Ponyboy grinned. "Never," he said as he bended over and got a bag of flour.

"Here I'll get it, little buddy." Darry said as he took the sack from Ponyboy.

"Thanks, Darry." Ponyboy said and he brushed himself off as he got up. When he looked up, he did a double take. Right in front of him was Rebecca's older brother searching for something on the shelves.

"Oh, the things I do for Becky." Ponyboy heard him murmur as he scanned the shelves. So he is Rebecca's older brother, Ponyboy confirmed. Rebecca's brother turned around just in time to catch Ponyboy staring at him. He was once again struck by how similar Rebecca's and her brother's eyes were. He, Darry and Soda didn't even have the same eye color but Rebecca and her brother got the same color, same shape and even the same glint whenever deep in thought. Ponyboy turned away from and went to help Darry with the grocery.

"Okay, next on the list are carrots and apples. Do you want to get the carrots and I'll get the apples?" Darry suggested.

Ponyboy shrugged. "Sure Darry," he replied.

Darry nodded his head to show he understood and turned on the corner to get the apples but almost immediately he crashed into someone as they were making a fast turn.

X-X-X-X

Rebecca had been speed walking when she crashed into Darrel Curtis. At first she had assumed that she turned on the corner to quickly and hit the shelf because what she hit was _hard._ But when she looked up, she saw a two pale blue eyes looking at her with concern.

"I'm sorry," a young man said apologetically and he offered his hand to help her up.

Rebecca placed her hand in his large ones and he helped her get up.

"I'm sorry, it was actually my fault. I was going too fast on the corner and I didn't see you and…" Her voice drifted off as she noticed Ponyboy standing behind the guy she crashed into.

"Hi Ponyboy," she said politely.

He gave her an attentive smile. "Hi Rebecca," he replied. He noticed Darry raising his eyebrows and Ponyboy quickly remembered his manners.

"Oh, I almost forgot to introduce you to Darry. Rebecca, this Darry, my oldest brother and Darry this is Rebecca, the new girl at my school." He said.

Rebecca saw Darry shoot Ponyboy a look she didn't understand but apparently Ponyboy did because he just rolled his eyes. Rebecca glanced at the two brothers and couldn't believe that they were even related. Ponyboy's older brother, Darry, looked nothing like Ponyboy at all in Rebecca's opinion. Where Ponyboy had reddish brown hair, green eyes, a lean and slender build, his brother was tall with dark hair, pale blue eyes and an incredible build. Rebecca noticed that Darry had determination set in his eyes while Ponyboy seemed more easy going.

"You guys don't even seem related!" Rebecca blurted out before she realized what she said. Once she did, however, her eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that! I-" She started to say but her brother, who came out from behind Ponyboy, finished the sentence for her.

"Have trouble controlling my mouth," James finished for her. Rebecca stuck out her tongue out as him as if she were a five years old instead of a 15 years old.

"That's okay, Rebecca. Everybody says I look more like my other brother, Sodapop." Ponyboy said reassuringly.

Rebecca saw James raise his eyebrows at the name of Ponyboy's other brother and she quickly gave him a warning glance as she introduced him.

"Well, this is my only sibling, James." She introduced.

"You guys certainly look alike," Ponyboy said teasingly.

Rebecca made a face. "The eyes maybe but nothing else," she said.

James put his arms around Rebecca and jokingly said, "And thank god. I don't think I can stand being as hideous as my little sister. How do you stand it Becky?"

Rebecca raised her eyebrows. "I don't know how I can stand it. Maybe if you stop breaking all the mirrors in the house, I can get a proper view of myself."

I took James a while for him to understand what his sister said but once he did, he glared at her and punched her shoulder. "You are soo dead when we get back home," he threatened.

"No way! Dad will be on my side!" Rebecca joked.

James rolled his eyes. "How many things do you have?" James challenged.

"I just need to get the flour and carrots and I'm done." Rebecca retorted.

"I only need apples," James said triumphantly.

Rebecca leaned down, grabbed a sack of flour and thrust it into her brother's arm. "You put this into the cart because you obviously are a whole lot stronger than I am."

James raised his eyebrows. "I don't think I heard you properly. Could you repeat that?" He asked teasingly.

Rebecca whacked his arm playfully. "A little cocky aren't we? Well, I've only got the carrots to pick up," she grinned slyly, "Looks like you're gonna have to pay me!" She yelled over her shoulder as she ran ahead.

"Oh, I don't think so!" James yelled right back and he ran after her.

Rebecca paused and allowed James to run in front of her. When she made sure James was no longer in sight, she turned around and walked over to Ponyboy.

"Do you know where the carrots are?" She asked while smiling.

X-X-X-X

"She reminds me of Two-Bit," Darry said to Ponyboy as they were driving home that night.

Ponyboy looked at him with an incredulous expression. "You're kidding me, right?"

Darry shrugged. "The way she acts around her brother reminds me of Two-Bit and his kid sister."

"Yeah, I can kinda see what you're getting at…but she's nothing like Two-Bit." Ponyboy said stubbornly.

Darry glanced at his own kid brother and grinned to himself. Somethings never change, he thought as he pulled up into the driveway.

"Well, Soda's gonna flip," Darry said as he turned the engine off.

Ponyboy groaned. "If you truly care about me, you wouldn't tell him about Rebecca."

"Yeah, but he'd murder me if I didn't tell him. We don't want that, now do we?" Darry chided.

"If it saves me from Soda's ranting, then yes," Ponyboy mumbled to himself as he jumped out of the truck to get the grocery.

"I heard that," Darry said as he climbed out as well.

"Good," Ponyboy said jokingly as he smiled up at his brother.

Darry looked down at Ponyboy and couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. He reached over to ruffle his kid brother's hair. "Come on, little buddy," he said, "You've got school tomorrow." And both of them walked back to their home.

X-X-X-X

"I can't believe you won," James grumbled the whole drive back home.

"You owe me," Rebecca reminded him as she brought her hand out.

James pulled over into their driveway and leaned over to kiss Rebecca's cheek. "There," he said as he leaned back into his seat. "That's worth more than ten dollars."

Rebecca gave him a 'you're kidding me' look. "Jamie, are you going back on your promise?" Rebecca raised her eyebrows.

"Rebecca, are you saying my love isn't worth ten buck?" James countered.

"Yes," Rebecca immediately answered.

James shot her a look of hurt. "Please tell you're kidding."

"Give me my ten dollars that I won," Rebecca said stubbornly.

James sighed and reached into his back pocket to give his sister the money. "Here," he said as he handed her the money. "I can't believe you're my sister."

Rebecca laughed softly and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "You're priceless to me, Jamie." She said sincerely.

James gave her a genuine smile. "You may have won this time, Re. But mark my word, I will win next time."

Rebecca stuck her tongue at him and jumped out of the car. But what Rebecca didn't know was that there wasn't going to be a next time.

**A/N: Phew, I finally got this done! What did you think? You like? I tried to do my best through my tight schedule... *sigh* Well, you guys know the drill!**

**More reviews=faster updates! ;) You wanna see the next chapter and you can't wait? Well, you review just might persuade me! ;)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I am sooo sorry for this late update! I really am! I'll tell you why it's a bit late at the end of this chapter. This chapter is more of a filler but i promise things will start to pick up in the next one. I am soo sorry and please excuse this short and crappy chapter! oh, i just had to say, i picked this quote because I am IN LOVE WITH THE PERCY JACKSON SERIES! If you guys want to read some awesome Percy Jackson Fanfics, check out Kazoquel4's stories!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders. **

"_My dear young cousin, if there's one thing I've learned over the eons, it's that you can't give up on your family, no matter how tempting they make it." _

― _Rick Riordan, The Sea of Monsters_

"Come on, Sleepyhead! It's time for school!" James shook his sister awake.

Rebecca groaned and lazily swatted at James as she turned around so her back faced her brother. "Five more minutes," she said sleepily.

James snatched the blanket and Rebecca shivered at the sudden rush of cold air. "Five minutes my butt," James said stubbornly. "You're gonna be late, Becky."

Rebecca sighed and sat up to show James that she was awake. "Happy? I'm up," she said tiredly.

James grinned. "Good. Get ready and come downstairs for breakfast," he said and with that he left.

Rebecca counted to five before she lay back down. Five minutes never hurted anybody, Rebecca thought vaguely as she drifted back to sleep.

However, she immediately regretted it when James came bounding up the stairs.

"REBECCA BAILEY MEYERS! I can't believe you're still sleeping," James said with a disapproving tone.

Rebecca shot up from her bed the minute James started yelling. "Okay, Jamie. I'm up. Are you happy?"

James looked thoughtful for a second and Rebecca felt dread spread over her as she watched a mischievous smile spreading across her brother's face.

"This requires some punishment," James said while cracking his knuckles.

Rebecca gave James a confused glance. "What are you talking about, Jamie?"

"The tickle monster has now been unleashed!" James shouted as he jumped onto Rebecca's bed and started tickling her.

"What?! Jamie, no!" Rebecca tried to say in between her fits of laughter.

"Ha! I've got you now Re." James chuckled as he continues to tickle his little sister.

"What in the world is going on here?" A voice near the doorway asked.

Both siblings looked up to see their father in the doorway with his eyebrows raised.

"Oh, just punishing your daughter. She's a rather naughty child," James said in a disapproving tone as he digged his fingers into Rebecca's sides. Rebecca bursted out into laughter as she threw pleading glances at her father.

Unfortunately, her father only chuckled as his kid's antics. "Don't be too late now," he said before he left the room.

"Wait, Daddy! You can't just leave me like this!" Rebecca shrieked as she tried to run away from her brother. She heard her father's booming laughter from the other side of the house and she knew she was screwed. She turned towards her brother and brought her hands out in a show of surrender.

"Truce, James! How about if I don't come down in five minutes, you can tickle me all you want?" Rebecca reasoned.

James playfully narrowed his eyes at her and quickly nodded his head. "I'm watching the time, Re." He warned her before going back down the stairs.

Rebecca rolled her eyes and quickly grabbed a pair of old jeans and a sweater and ran to the bathroom. She hastily pulled on her clothes, brushed her teeth and pulled her dark hair into messy ponytail. She bounded down the stairs as fast as she could but when she took a turn into the hallway, she crashed into Linda and made her drop everything she was holding. I really need to look where I'm going, Rebecca thought grumpily as she rubbed her head.

"Rebecca," Linda said in an annoyed tone. "Please watch where you're going. I could of have broken these books."

"But you didn't." And I don't think you _can _break books, Rebecca thought silently as she joked around with Linda to lighten the mood but all Linda did was pursed her lips into a thin line. Rebecca started to help Linda pick up the books but Linda waved her away.

"Go eat your breakfast," Linda said a little too harshly but Rebecca quickly got up and went to the kitchen.

"Hey James," Rebecca said as she took a seat in the kitchen.

"Here's your breakfast, Becky," he replied as he placed a bagel in front of her.

"Thanks," she said as she absentmindingly chewed on her bagel. "James," she called out. "Why does Linda hate me?"

James gave his sister a quizzical glance. "She doesn't hate you," he said as he took the seat in front of her.

"Well, then why does she treat me like I'm a bug or something?" Rebecca rephrased.

"I think she's trying to adjust to the fact that she has to try to be mother to two kids now," James said softly.

"Maybe," Rebecca replied although she wasn't entirely convinced.

James smiled and reached out to ruffle her hair. "Come on, kiddo. You're gonna be late for school," he said as he walked out of the kitchen.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." Rebecca grumbled as she took one last bite out of her bagel and followed her brother out the door.

X-X-X-X

"Okay, you can't get too comfortable with me driving you to school," James said as they finally arrived at the high school.

Rebecca narrowed her eyes at him. "Why not?" She demanded, hoping she didn't sound too bratty.

James winced. "Because school starts for me and I'll only be home for the weekends," he said apologetically.

"Oh," Rebecca said, not knowing how to respond to that.

"I promise I'll be home for the weekends. Those can be our days," James said sincerely.

"Pinky promise?" Rebecca asked while holding out her pinky.

James rolled his eyes and wrapped his pinky around his little sister's. "I pinky promise," he said sincerely.

Rebecca grinned and kissed his cheek. "You know, in the ancient times, a pinky promise signified that whoever broke the promise, would get his pinky cut off?" Rebecca said.

James blinked. "I'll keep that in mind," he smiled at her.

"Good, 'cause I'd really hate to chop off your little pinky," Rebecca winked and climbed out of the car. If Rebecca would've known what happened in the near future, she would've ran back to the car and demand James to stay home and attend college instead of leaving altogether. If Rebecca had known, she could've stopped her brother from walking out for her life. But of course, she didn't know what he would figure out and leave her…

**A/N: Okay, why i haven't been updating; I got into a car accident, been diagnosed with cancer, and broke my ankle. Not exactly in that order. So I'm soooo sorry for this long wait! Thanks for the review! Please, if you're gonna review this, please don't let it be just about my health. I'm happy that you guys are concerned but I'm more curious as to what you guys think about this story! Please R&R!**

**Remember, more reviews = faster updates! ;) **


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